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MEMOIR 



REV HEIRY MARTIN, B, D., 



LATE FELLOW OF ST. JOHNS COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, AND CHAPL\IN 
TO THE HONORABLE EAST INDIA COMPANY. 



BY REV. JOHN SARGENT, M.A., 

RECTOR OF LA-VlilGTOU. 



FROM THE TENTH LONDON EDITION, 

CORRECTED AND ENLARGED. 



6.ni for my name's sake nast labored, and nast not fainted. — Rev. 2: 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



: 



AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK. 



$^1°: 



5 ■ 






CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER L 

Early Life of Henry Martyn — Successful academical 
career — Religious impressions. „ . . Page ? 

CHAPTER II. 

Advancement in piety — Success in college — Tour 
through Wales to Cornwall — Resolves on a mis- 
sionary life — Ordination 23 

CHAPTER III. 

Enters on his ministerial labors — Acts as examiner in 
the University — Applies for a Chaplainship under 
the East India Company — Pursues his ministerial 
labors — Supreme regard to personal religion — Vi- 
sits Cornwall — Sufferings on leaving England. . 55 

CHAPTER IV. 

Departure from England — Ministry on board ship — 
Incidents of the voyage — Visits Funehal — St. Sal- 
vador — Cape of Good Hope — A field of battle- 
Opposed in his ministry — Feelings on approaching 
India — Arrives at Madras — Reaches Calcutta. . 112 

CHAPTER V. 
Arrival at Calcutta — Residence and illness at Aldeen 
— Preaches at Calcutta — Opposition encountered — 
Is appointed to Dinapore — Leaves Calcutta — Voy- 
age up the Hoogley and Ganges 165 

CHAPTER VI. 

Stationed at Dinapore — Obstacles encountered— Com- 



mences his ministry — Translations — Disputes with 
his Moonshee and Pundit — Arrival of Mr. Corrie 
at Dinapore — Difficulties respecting the schools — 
Happiness in the work of translation. . . . 107 

CHAPTER VII. 

Death of his eldest sister — Letters to his friends — arri- 
val of Mirza and Sabat— Trials with Sabat — De- 
clining health — Removal to Cawnpore — Death of 
his youngest sister — Health more impaired — De- 
termines to visit Arabia and Persia — Leaves Cawn- 
pore for Calcutta— Departs for Arabia. . . 24£) 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Voyage and journey from Bengal to Persia— Insup- 
portable heat — Arrival at Shiras— Commences a 
new Persian translation of the New Testament — 
Discussions with the Persian Moollahs. . . 300 

CHAPTER IX. 

First public discussion at Shiraz — Mr. Martyn replies 
to a defence of Mohammedanism— Interview with 
the head of the Sooiies — Visits Persepolis— Trans- 
lations — Discussions. ...... 333 

CHAPTER X. 
Leaves Shiraz in order to lay before the king his 
translation of the New Testament — Arrives at 
the camp — Is not admitted to an audience — Pto- 
ceeds to Tebriz — Severe illness 382 

CHAPTER XL 

Commences his journey homewards, by way of Con- 
stantinople — Visits Echmiadzin — Suffers from fe- 
ver — Dies at Toe at, in Persia — View of his Cha- 
racter — Conclusion 407 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



Before the reader proceeds to the perusal of the 
following memoir, it may be proper to inform him 
that the former part of it has been chiefly selected 
from various journals, which Mr. Martyn was in the 
habit of keeping, for his own private use ; and which, 
beginning with the year 1803, comprehend a period 
of eight years. The remainder is extracted from an 
account which he drew up of his visit to Shiraz in 
Persia ; in which some occasional observations on the 
state of his own mind and feelings are interspersed. 
It is termed " a Narrative 1 ' by Mr. Martyn ; and it 
was probably his intention to have enlarged it, for 
the use of the public, had his life been spared, or 
perhaps to have communicated it, nearly in its origi- 
nal shape, to his intimate friends. From the style 
and manner of it, at least, it may be presumed not to 
have been exclusively intended, as the journals above 
mentioned evidently were, for his own recollection 
and benefit. The greater part of the last mentioned 
papers were upon the point of being destroyed by 
the writer on his undertaking his voyage to Persia, 
but, happily, he was prevailed upon by the Rev. D. 



6 ADVERTISEMENT. 

Corrie to confide them under a seal to his care, and 
by him they were transmitted from India to the Rev. 
C. Simeon and J. Thornton, Esq. Mr. Martyn's ex- 
ecutors, in the year 1814. " The Narrative," which 
was sent by Mr. Morier from Constantinople, came 
into their hands in the following year. Such are the 
materials from which I have compiled the present 
memoir — throughout the whole of which I have en- 
deavored, as much as possible, to let Mr. Martyn 
speak for himself, and thus to exhibit a genuine pic- 
ture of his own mind. 

In making a selection from a mass of such valu- 
able matter, it has been my anxious wish and sincere 
prayer that it might prove subservient to the inte- 
rests of true religion. One principal object with me 
has been, to render it beneficial to those disinterested 
ministers of the Gospel, who, " with the Bible in 
their hand, and their Savior in their hearts," devote 
themselves to the great cause for which Mr. Mar- 
tyn lived and died : and truly, if the example here 
delineated should excite any of those servants of 
Christ to similar exertion, or if it should animate 
and encourage them amidst the multiplied difficul- 
ties of their arduous course, my labor will receive an 
eminent and abundant recompense. 

J. & 



MEMOIR. 



CHAPTER I. 

EARLY LIFE OF HENRY MARTYN. — SUCCESSFUL ACADEMICAL 
CAREER. — RELIGIOUS IMPRESSIONS. 

It has been well observed by one* who took a pro- 
found view of human nature, that there are three very 
different orbits in which great men move and shine ; 
and that each sphere of greatness has its respective 
admirers. There are those, who, as heroes, fill the 
world with their exploits; they are greeted by the 
acclamations of the multitude; they are ennobled 
whilst living, and their names descend with lustre to 
posterity. Others there are, who, by the brilliancy of 
their imagination or the vigor of their intellect, attain 
to honor of a purer and a higher kind ; the fame of 
these is confined to a more select number; for all have 
not a discriminating sense of their merit. A third de- 
scription remains, distinct from both of the former, 
and far more exalted than either ; whose excellence 
consists in a renunciation of themselves and a com- 
passionate love for mankind. In this order the Savior 
of the world was pleased to appear; and those per- 
sons obtain the highest rank in it, who, by his grace, 
are enabled most closely to imitate his example. 

* Pascal. 



MEMOIR OP 



Henry Martyn, the subject of this Memoir, was 
born at Truro, in the county of Cornwall, on the 18th 
of February, 1781, and appears, with his family in 
general, to have inherited a weak constitution ; as, of 
many children, four only, two sons and two daughters, 
survived their father, Mr. John Martyn, and all of 
these, within a short period, followed him to the 
grave. Of these, Henry was the third. His father was 
originally in a very humble situation of life, having 
been a laborer in the mines of Gwenap, the place ol 
his nativity. With no education but such as a coun- 
try reading school afforded, he was compelled to en- 
gage, for his daily support, in an employment, which, 
dreary and unhealthy as it was, offered some advan- 
tages, of which he most meritoriously availed him- 
self. The miners, it seems, are in the habit of work- 
ing and resting alternately every four hours ; and the 
periods of relaxation from manual labor they fre- 
quently devote to mental improvement. In these in- 
tervals of cessation from toil, John Martyn acquired a 
complete knowledge of arithmetic, and also some ac* 
quaintance with mathematics; and no sooner had he 
gathered these valuable and substantial fruits of per- 
severing diligence in a soil most unfriendly to their 
growth, than he was raised from a state of poverty 
and depression to one of comparative ease and com- 
fort. Being admitted to the office of Mr. Daniel, a 
merchant of Truro, he lived there as chief clerk, very 
respectably, enjoying considerably more than a com- 
petency. At the grammar school in this town, the 
master of which was the Rev. Cornelius Cardew, D. 
D. a gentleman of learning and talents, Henry was 



HENRY MARTYN- 9 

placed by his father, in midsummer, 1788, being then 
between seven and eight years of age. Of his child- 
hood, previous to this period, little or nothing can be 
ascertained ; but those who knew him considered him 
to be a boy of promising abilities. 

Upon his first entering the school, Dr. Cardew ob 
serves, that " he did not fail to answer the expecta- 
tions which had been formed of him : his proficiency 
in the classics exceeded that of most of his school- 
fellows; yet there were boys who made a more rapid 
progress ; not perhaps that their abilities were supe- 
rior, but their application was greater ; for he was of 
a lively, cheerful temper, and, as I have been told by 
those who sat near him, appeared to be the idlest 
among them ; being frequently known to go up to his 
lesson with little or no preparation — as if he had 
learned it by intuition." 

In all schools there are boys, it is well known, who, 
from natural softness of spirit, inferiority in point of 
bodily strength, or an unusual thirst for literary ac- 
quirements, become much secluded from the rest; 
and such boys are generally exposed to the ridicule 
and oppression of their associates. Henry Martyn, 
though not at that time eminently studious, was one 
of this class ; he seldom joined the other boys in their 
pastimes, in which he was not an adept ; and he often 
suffered from the tyranny of those older and stronger 
than himself. 

" Little Harry Martyn," (for by that name he usu- 
ally went,) says one of his earliest friends and com- 
panions, "was in a manner proverbial among his 
school-fellows for a peculiar tenderness and inoffen- 



10 MEMOIR OF 

siveness of spirit, which exposed him to the ill offices 
of many overbearing boys 5 and as there was at times, 
some peevishness in his manner when attacked, he 
was often unkindly treated. That he might receive 
assistance in his lessons, he w r as placed near one ol 
the upper boys, with w r hom he contracted a friend- 
ship which lasted through life, and w T hose imagina- 
tion readily recalls the position in which he used to 
sit, the thankful expression of his affectionate counte- 
nance when he happened to be helped out of some 
difficulty, and a thousand other little incidents of his 
boyish days." Besides assisting him in his exercises, 
his friend, it is added, " had often the happiness of 
rescuing him from the grasp of oppressors, and has 
never seen more feeling gratitude evinced than was 
shown by him on those occasions." 

At this school, under the same excellent tuition, 
Henry remained till he was between fourteen and fif- 
teen years of age; at which period he was induced to 
offer himself as a candidate for a vacant scholarship at 
Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Young as he was, he 
went there alone, without any interest in the Univer- 
sity, and with only a single letter to one of the tutors ; 
and while there, he acquitted himself so well, though 
strongly and ably opposed, that in the opinion of some 
of the examiners he ought to have been elected. 
How often is the hand of God seen in frustrating our 
fondest designs ! Had success attended him, the whole 
circumstances of his after-life would have been varied ; 
and however his temporal interests might have been 
promoted, his spiritual interests would probably have 
sustained a proportionate loss. 



HENRY MARTYN. 1] 

It was with sensations of this kind that he himself, 
many years afterwards, reverted to this disappoint- 
ment. " In the autumn of 1795," he says, in an ac- 
count prefixed to his private Journal of the year 1803, 
" my father, at the persuasion of many of his friends, 
sent me to Oxford, to be a candidate for the vacant 
scholarship at Corpus Christi. I entered at no college, 
but had rooms at Exeter College, by the interest of 
Mr. Cole, the Sub-Rector. I passed the examination, I 
believe, tolerably well ; but was unsuccessful, having 
every reason to think that the decision was impartial. 
Had I remained, and become a member of the Uni- 
versity at that time, as I should have done in case 
of success, the profligate acquaintances I had there 
would have introduced me to scenes of debauchery, 
in which I must, in all probability, from my extreme 
youth, have sunk for ever." 

After this repulse, Henry returned home, and con- 
tinued to attend Dr. Cardew's school till June, 1797. 
That he had made no inconsiderable progress there, 
was evident from the very creditable examination he 
passed at Oxford ; and in the tw r o years subsequent to 
this, he must have greatly augmented his fund of clas- 
sical knowledge ; but it seems not to have been till after 
he had commenced his academical career, that his su- 
periority of talent was fully discovered. The signal 
success of that friend who had been his guide and 
protector at school, led him, in the spring of this year, 
to direct his views towards the University of Cam- 
bridge, which he probably preferred to that of Ox- 
ford, because he hoped there to profit by the advice 
and assistance to which he was already so much in- 



12 MEMOIR OF 

debted. Whatever might be the cause of this prefer- 
ence, it certainly did not arise from any predilection 
for mathematics : for he confesses that, in the autumn 
before he went to Cambridge, instead of the study of 
Euclid and Algebra, one part of the day was dedica- 
ted to his favorite employment of shooting, and the 
other to reading, for the most part, Travels, and Lord 
Chesterfield's Letters ; — " attributing to a want of 
taste for mathematics, what ought to have been as- 
cribed to idleness ; and having his mind in a roving, 
dissatisfied, restless condition, seeking his chief plea- 
sure in reading and in human praise." 

His residence at St. John's College, where his name 
had been previously entered in the summer, com- 
menced in the month of October, 1797; and it may 
tend to show how little can be determined from first 
attempts, to relate that Henry Martyn began his ma- 
thematical pursuits by attempting to commit the pro- 
positions of Euclid to memory. The endeavor may be 
considered as a proof of the confidence he himself en- 
tertained in the retentive powers of his mind ; but it 
certainly did not supply an auspicious omen of future 
excellence. 

On his introduction to the University, happily for 
him, the friend of his ' boyish days ' became the coun- 
selor of his riper years 5 nor was this important act 
of friendship either lost upon him at the time, or ob- 
literated from his memory in after life. " During the 
first term," he has recorded in his Journal, " I was 
kept a good deal in idleness by some of my new ac- 
quaintances, but the kind attention of K was a 

principal means of my preservation from excess." 



HENRY MARTYN. 13 

That his time was far from being wholly misem- 
ployed, between October and Christmas, is evident 
from the place he obtained in the first class at the 
public examination of his college in December ; a cir- 
cumstance which, joined to the extreme desire he had 
to gratify his father, encouraged and excited him to 
study with increased alacrity ; and as the fruit of this 
application, at the next public examination in the 
summer, he reached the second station in the first 
class; a point of elevation which "flattered his pride 
not a little." 

The tenor of Henry Martyn's life, during this and 
the succeeding year, would, in the eye of the world, 
be considered to have been amiable and commenda- 
ble. He was outwardly moral ; was, with little excep- 
tion, unwearied in application ; and exhibited marks of 
no ordinary talent. One exception to this statement is 
to be found in an irritability of temper, increased, if 
not engendered by the treatment he had met with at 
school. These ebullitions of passion had, on one occa- 
sion, nearly proved fatal to a friend — the late excel- 
lent Mr. Cotterill (afterwards minister of St. Paul's 
Church, Sheffield.) He barely escaped the point of a 
knife, which, thrown by the hand of Henry Martyn, 
most providentially missed him, and was left trem- 
bling in the wall. If, from this unsubdued impetuosity 
of temper, we pass to his avowed and fixed principles, 
— these, as might well be expected, evince him to have 
been living at this time c without God in the world. 1 
The consideration that God chiefly regards the mo- 
tives of our actions— a consideration so momentous, 
and so essential to the character of a real Christian-* 



14 MEMOIR OF 

appears as yet never to have entered his mind ; and 
even when it did, as was the case at this time, it rest- 
ed there as a theoretic notion, which was never meant 
to be reduced to practice. His own account of him- 
self is very striking. Speaking of June, 1799, he says, 

" K (the friend alluded to before) attempted to 

persuade me that I ought to attend to reading, not for 
the praise of men, but for the glory of God. This 
seemed strange to me, but reasonable. I resolved 
therefore, to maintain this opinion thenceforth ; but 
never designed, that I remember, that it should affect 
my conduct." What a decisive mark this of an unre- 
newed mind ! — what an affecting proof that light may 
break in upon the understanding, whilst there is not 
so much as the dawn of it on the heart ! 

Providentially for Henry Martyn, he had not only 
the great blessing of possessing a religious friend at 
college, but he possessed likewise the happiness of 
having a sister in Cornwall, who was a Christian of a 
meek, heavenly, and affectionate spirit : to whom, as 
well as to the rest of his relations there, he paid a visit 
in the summer of the year 1799, carrying with him no 
small degree of academical honor, though not all that 
he had fondly and ambitiously expected. He had lost 
the prize for themes in his college, and was only se- 
cond again in the first class at the public examination, 
when he had hoped to have been first 5 — a " double 
disappointment," to use his own words, " which net- 
tled him to the quick." It may be well supposed that 
to a sister, such as we Jiave described, her brother's 
spiritual welfare would be a most serious and anxious 
concern: and that she often conversed with him on 



HENRY MARTYH. 15 

the subject of religion, we learn from his own decla- 
ration. " I went home this summer, and was frequently 
addressed by my dear sister on the subject of religion ; 
but the sound of the Gospel conveyed in the admoni- 
tion of a sister, was grating to my ears." The first re- 
suit of her tender exhortations and earnest endeavors 
was very discouraging; a violent conflict took place 
in her brother's mind, between his conviction of the 
truth of what she urged, and his love of the world ; 
and for the present, the latter prevailed. Yet sisters, 
similarly circumstanced, may learn from this case, 
not merely their duty, but also, from the final result 
the success they may anticipate — in the faithful dis- 
charge of it. " I think," he observes, when afterwards 
reviewing this period with a spirit truly broken and 
contrite, " I do not remember a time in which the 
wickedness of my heart rose to a greater height than 
during my stay at home. The consummate selfishness 
and exquisite irritability of my mind were displayed 
in rage, malice, and envy ; in pride, and vain glory 
and contempt of all ; in the harshest language to my 
sister, and even to my father, if he happened to differ 
from my mind and will. O what an example of pa- 
tience and mildness was he ! I love to think of his ex- 
cellent qualities, and it is frequently the anguish of 
my heart that I ever could be so base and wicked as 
to pain him by the slightest neglect. O my God and 
Father, why is not my heart doubly agonized at the 
remembrance of all my great transgressions against 
thee ever since I have known thee as such ! — I left my 
eister and father in October, and him I saw no more. 
1 promised my sister that I would read the Bible for 



16 MEMOIR OF 

myself, but on being settled at college, Newton en- 
gaged all my thoughts." 

At length, however, it pleased God to convince 
Henry, by a most affecting visitation of his providence, 
that there was a knowledge far more important to him 
than any human science ; and to lead him, whilst 
contemplating the heavens by the light of astronomy, 
to devote himself to His service, who, having made 
those heavens, and having left them for man's salva- 
tion, is now again exalted to the right hand of God, as 
his Mediator and Advocate. The sudden and heart- 
rending intelligence of the death of his father, was the 
proximate, though doubtless not the efficient cause of 
his receiving these convictions. How poignant were 
his sufferings under this affliction may be seen in the 
account he himself has left of it : from whence it is 
evident that it was a season, not only of severe but of 
sanctified sorrow — a seed-time of tears, promising that 
harvest of holiness, peace, and joy, which succeed- 
ed it. 

" At the examination at Christmas, 1799," he writes, 
" I was first, and the account of it pleased my father 
prodigiously, who, I was told, was in great health and 
spirits. What then was my consternation, when, in 
January, I received from my brother an account of 
his death ! But while I mourned the loss of an earthly 
parent, the angels in heaven were rejoicing at my be- 
ing so soon to find a heavenly one. As I had no taste 
at this time for my usual studies, I took up my Bible, 
thinking that the consideration of religion w r as rather 
suitable to this solemn time ; nevertheless,! often took 
up other books to engage my attention, and should 



i 



HENRY MARTY N. 



17 



have continued to do so, had not K advised me to 

make this time an occasion of serious reflection. I be- 
gan with the Acts, as being the most amusing ; and 
whilst I was entertained with the narrative, I found 
myself insensibly led to inquire more attentively into 
the doctrines of the Apostles. These corresponded 
nearly enough with the few notions I had received in 
my early youth. I believe, on the first night after, I 
began to pray from a precomposed form, in which I 
thanked God, in general, for having sent Christ into 
the world. But though I prayed for pardon, I had 
little sense of my own sinfulness ; nevertheless, I be- 
gan to consider myself a religious man. The first time 
after this that I went to chapel, I saw, with some de- 
gree of surprise at my former inattention, that in the 
Magnificat* there was a great degree of joy expressed 
at the coming of Christ, which I thought but reason- 
able. K had lent me Doddridge's Rise and Pro- 
gress, the first part of which I could not bear to read, 
because it appeared to make religion consist too much 
in humiliation ; and my proud and wicked heart 
would not bear to be brought down into the dust. 

And K , to whom I mentioned the gloom which I 

felt after reading the first part of Doddridge, repro- 
bated it strongly. Alas ! did he think that we can go 
along the way that leadeth unto life, without entering 
in at the c strait gate V " 

It was not long after Henry had been called to en- 
dure this gracious, though grievous, chastening from 
above, that the public exercises commenced in the 

u * My soul doth magnify the Lord," &c. Luke, 1 : 46. 
Marty n. q 



18 MEMOIR OF 

University ; and although his greatest stimulus to ex- 
ertion was removed by the loss of his father, whom it 
was his most anxious desire still to please, he again de- 
voted himself to his mathematical studies with un- 
wearied diligence. That spiritual danger exists in an 
intense application of the mind to these studies, he 
was so deeply sensible at a later period of his life, as, 
on a review of this particular time, most gratefully to 
acknowledge that " the mercy of God prevented the 
extinction of that spark of grace which his Spirit had 
kindled." At the moment of his exposure to this peril., 
he was less conscious of it : but we may perceive from 
the following letter to his youngest sister, that he was 
not wholly devoid of circumspection on this head. 
Having shortly, and with much simplicity, announced 
that his name stood first upon the list at the college 
examination of the summer of the year 1800, he thus 
expresses himself: "What a blessing it is for me, that 

I have such a sister as you, my dear S , who have 

been so instrumental in keeping me in the right way ! 
When I consider how little human assistance you have 
had, and the great knowledge to which you have at- 
tained on the subject of religion — especially observing 
the extreme ignorance of the most wise and learned 
of this world — I think this is itself a proof of the won- 
derful influence of the Holy Ghost on the mind of well 
disposed persons. It is certainly by the Spirit alone 
that we can have the will, or power, or knowledge, or 
confidence to pray ; and by Him alone we come unto 
the Father through Jesus Christ. ' Through Him we 
both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.' How 
I rejoice to find that we disagreed only about words ! 



ULNFA MARTIN 19 

I did not doubt^ aj you suppose, at all about that joy 
which true believers feel. Can there be any one sub- 
ject, any one source of cheerfulness and joy, at all to 
be compared with the heavenly serenity and comfort 
which such a person must find, in holding communion 
with his God and Savior in prayer — in addressing 
God as his Father — and, more than all, in the trans- 
porting hope of being preserved unto everlasting life, 
and of singing praises to his Redeemer when time shall 
be no more ? Oh ! I do indeed feel this state of mind 
at times ; but at other times I feel quite humbled at 
finding myself so cold and hard-hearted. That reluc 
tance to prayer, that unwillingness to come unto God, 
who is the fountain of all good, when reason and ex- 
perience tell us that with him only true pleasure is 
to be found, seem to be owing to Satanic influence. 
Though I think my employment in life gives me pe- 
culiar advantages, in some respects, with regard to re- 
ligious knowledge ; yet with regard to having a prac- 
tical sense of things on the mind, it is by far the worst 
of any. For the laborer, as he drives on his plough, 
and the weaver, as he works at his loom, may have his 
thoughts entirely disengaged from his work, and may 
think with advantage upon any religious subject. But 
the nature of our studies requires such a deep abstrac- 
tion of the mind from all things, as to render it com- 
pletely incapable of any thing else, and that during 
many hours of the day. With respect to the dealings 
of the Almighty with me, you have heard in general 
the chief of my account ; as I am brought to a sense of 
things gradually, there is nothing peculiarly striking 
in it to particularize. After the death of our father, 



20 MEMOIR Of 

you know I was extremely low-spirited j and, like 
most other people, began to consider seriously, with- 
out any particular determination, that invisible world 
to which he was gone, and to which I must one day 
go. Yet I still read the Bible unenlightened ; and said 
a prayer or two, rather through terror of a superior 
power than from any other cause. Soon, however, I 
began to attend more diligently to the words of our 
Savior in the New Testament, and to devour them 
with delight ; when the offers of mercy and forgiveness 
were made so freely, I supplicated to be made par- 
taker of the covenant of grace, with eagerness and 
hope : and thanks be to the ever-blessed Trinity for 
not leaving me without comfort. Throughout the 
whole, however, even when the light of divine truth 
was beginning to dawn on my mind, I was not under 
that great terror of future punishment which I now 
see plainly I had every reason to feel : I look back 
now upon that course of wickedness which, like a gulf 
of destruction, yawned to swallow me up, with a trem- 
bling delight, mixed w T ith shame at having lived so 
long in ignorance, and error, and blindness. I could 

say much more, my dear S , but I have no more 

room. I have only to express my acquiescence in most 
of your opinions, and to join with you in gratitude to 
God for his mercies to us : may he preserve you, and 
me, and all of us, to the day of the Lord !" 

How cheering to his sister must it have been, to re- 
ceive, at a moment of deep sorrow, such a communi- 
cation as this, indicating a state of mind not thorough- 
ly instructed, indeed, in the mystery of faith, but fully 
alive to the supreme importance of religion ! How sa 



HENR* MARTYN. 21 

lutary to his own mind to have possessed so near a re- 
lation, to whom he could thus freely open the work- 
ings of his heart ! But the chief cause, under God, of 
his stability at this season in those religious principles 
which, by divine grace, he had adopted, was evidently 
that constant attendance, which he now commenced 
on the ministry of the Rev. Charles Simeon, at Trinity 
Church, in Cambridge ; under whose truly pastoral in- 
struction, he himself declares that he " gradually ac- 
quired more knowledge in divine things." 

In the retrospect which Henry afterwards took of this 
part of his life, he seems sometimes ready to suspect a 
want of growth, and almost a want of vitality in his 
religion ; but though there may have been some ground 
for the former of these suspicions, there certainly was 
none, whatever his humility may have suggested, for 
the latter. " I can only account," he says, " for my be- 
ing stationary so long, by the intenseness with which 
I pursued my studies, in which I was so absorbed, that 
the time I gave to them seemed not to be a portion of 
my existence. That in which I now see I was lamen- 
tably deficient, was a humble and contrite spirit, in 
which I should have perceived more clearly the excel- 
lency of Christ. The eagerness too, with which I 
looked forward to the approaching examination for 
degrees, too clearly betrayed a heart not dead to the 
world." 

That a public examination for a degree in the Uni- 
versity must be a time of painful solicitude to those 
about to pass through it, is obvious ; especially when 
great expectations have been raised, and worldly pros- 
pects are likely to be seriously affected by the event. 



32 



MEMOIR OF 



From Henry Martyn much was expected ; and had he 
altogether failed, his temporal interests would have 
materially suffered. Nor was he naturally insensible 
to those perturbations which are apt to arise in a youth- 
ful and ambitious breast. It happened, however, (as he 
was frequently known to assert,) that upon entering 
the Senate House, in which a larger than the usual 
proportion of able young men were his competitors, 
his mind was singularly composed and tranquilized, 
by the recollection of a sermon which he had heard 
not long before on the text — " Seekest thou great things 
for thyself? — seek them not, saith the Lord." He thus 
became divested of that extreme anxiety about success, 
which, by harassing his spirit, must have impeded the 
free exercise of his powers. His decided superiority 
in mathematics therefore soon appeared — and the 
highest academical honor, that of " Senior Wrangler," 
was awarded to him in January, 1801, at which pe- 
riod he had not completed the twentieth year of his 
age. Nor is it any disparagement to that honor, or to 
those who conferred it on him, to record that it was 
attended in this instance with that sense of disappoint- 
ment and dissatisfaction to which all earthly blessings 
are subject. His description of his own feelings on this 
>ccasion is very remarkable — "I obtained my highest 
wishes, but was surprised to find that I had grasped a 
shadow." So impossible is it for earthly distinctions, 
though awarded for successful exertions of the intel- 
lect, to fill and satisfy the mind, especially after it has 
tasted " the good word of God, and the powers of the 
world to come." So certain is it, that he who drinks 
of the water of the well of this life must thirst again, 



HENRY MARTYN. 23 



and that it is the water which springs up to everlasting 
life which alone affords never-failing refreshment. 



CHAPTER II. 



AD7AN T CEMENT IN PIETY — SUCCESS IN COLLEGE — TOUR THROUGH 
WALES TO CORNWALL — RESOLVES ON A MISSIONARY LIFE — OR- 
DINATION. 

Having thus attained that station of remarkable 
merit and eminence upon which his eye from the first 
had been fixed, and for which he had toiled with such 
astonishing diligence as to be designated in his col- 
lege as " the man who had not lost an hour," and 
having received likewise the first of two prizes given 
annually to the best proficients in mathematics, 
amongst those bachelors who had just taken their de- 
gree — in the month of March, Henry again visited 
Cornwall, where, amidst the joyful greetings and con- 
gratulations of all his friends, his youngest sister was 
alone dejected, not witnessing in him that progress in 
Christian knowledge which she had been fondly led 
to anticipate. 

Nor ought we to attribute this wholly to that arden- 
cy of affection which might dispose her to indulge in 
sanguine and somewhat unreasonable expectations. 
Those who know what human nature is, even after it 
has been renewed by the Spirit of God, will not deny 



24 MEMOIR OF 

that it is more than possible that her brother's zeal 
might have somewhat relaxed in the bright sunshine 
of academical honor : and certain it is that his stan- 
dard of duty, though superior to that of the world, 
was at this time far from reaching that degree of ele- 
vation which it afterwards attained. Who can won- 
der, then, that a person tremblingly alive to his best 
interests, should not be wholly free from apprehension, 
and should be continually urging on his conscience 
the solemn sanctions of the Gospel, entreating him to 
aim at nothing less than Christian perfection ? 

Returning to Cambridge in the summer of this year, 
he passed the season of vacation most profitably : con- 
strained, happily, to be much alone^ he employed his 
solitary hours in frequent communion with his own 
heart, and with that gracious Lord who once blessed 
Isaac and Nathaniel in their secret devotions, and 
who did not withhold a blessing from his. " God," he 
observes, "was pleased to bless the solitude and re- 
tirement I enjoyed this summer to my improvement : 
and not until then had I ever experienced any real 
pleasure in religion. I was more convinced of sin than 
ever, more earnest in fleeing to Jesus for refuge, and 
more desirous of the renewal of my nature." 

It was during this vacation also that an intimate ac- 
quaintance commenced, as much distinguished by a 
truly parental regard on the one hand, as it was by a 
grateful, reverential, and filial affection on the other. 
Having long listened with no small degree of pleasure 
and profit to Mr. Simeon, as a preacher, Henry now 
began to enjoy the happiness of an admission to the 
most friendly and unreserved intercourse with him, 



HENRY MARTYN. 25 

and was in the habit of soliciting and receiving, on all 
important occasions, his counsel and encouragement. 
By Mr. Simeon's kindness it was that he was now 
made known to several young men, with some of 
whom he formed the most enduring of all attach- 
ments — a Christian friendship ; and it was from his 
conversation and example also that he imbibed his 
first impressions of the transcendent excellence of the 
Christian ministry; from which it was but a short 
step to resolve upon devoting himself to that sacred 
calling : — for until now he had an intention of apply- 
ing to the law, " chiefly," he confesses, " because he 
could not consent to be poor for Christ's sake." 

The great advancement which he had made in ge- 
nuine piety at this period, from intercourse with real 
Christians, and above all, from secret communion with 
his God, is discernible in the following extracts from 
two letters — the first dated September 15, 1801, and 
addressed to his earliest friend — the second written a 
few days afterwards, to his youngest sister. " That 
you may be enabled to do the will of your heavenly 
Father, shall be, you may be assured, my constant 
prayer at the throne of grace ; and this, as well from 
the desire of promoting the edification of Christ's 
body upon earth, as from motives of private gratitude. 
You have been the instrument in the hands of Provi- 
dence of bringing me to a serious sense of things ; for 
at the time of my father's death, I was using such me- 
thods of alleviating my sorrow as I almost shudder to 
recollect. But, blessed be God, I have now experienc- 
ed that Christ is c the power of God, and the wisdom 
of God.' What a blessing is the Gospel ! No heart can 



20 MEMOIR OF 

conceive its excellency but that which has been re- 
newed by divine grace." 
" I have lately," he writes in the second letter, "been 

witness to a scene of distress. P , in this town, 

with whom I have been little acquainted, and who had 
lived to the full extent of his income, is now dying, 
and his family will be left perfectly destitute. I called 
yesterday to know whether he was still alive, and 
found his wife in a greater agony than you can con- 
ceive. She was wringing her hands, and crying out 
to me, '0 pray for his soul!' — and then again recol- 
lecting her own helpless condition, and telling me of 
her wretchedness in being turned out upon the world 
without house or home. It was in vain to point to 
heaven ; the heart, distracted and overwhelmed with 
worldly sorrow, finds it hard to look to God. Since 
writing this, I have been to call on the daughters of 

P , who had removed to another house, because, 

from the violence of their grief they incommoded the 
sick man. Thither I went to visit them, with my 
head and heart full of the subject I was come up- 
on ; and was surprised to find them cheerful, and 
thunderstruck to see a gownsman reading a play to 
them. A play '.—when their father was lying in the 
agonies of death. What a species of consolation ! I 
rebuked him so sharply, and I am afraid, so intem- 
perately, that a quarrel will perhaps ensue. 

" But it is time that I should take some notice of 
your letter: when we consider the misery and darkness 
of the unregenerate world, oh ! with how much rea- 
son should we burst out into thanksgiving to God, who 
has called us, in his mercy, through Christ Jesus] 



HENRY MARTY N. 27 

What are we, that we should thus be made objects of 
distinguishing grace ! Who then, that reflects upon 
the rock from which he was hewn, but must rejoice 
to give himself entirely and without reserve to God, to 
be sanctified by his Spirit? The soul that has truly 
experienced the love of God, will not stay meanly in- 
quiring how much he shall do, and thus limit his ser- 
vice ; but will be earnestly seeking more and more to 
know the will of our heavenly Father, that he may be 
enabled to do it. O may we both be thus minded ; 
may we experience Christ to be our all in all, not 
only as our Redeemer, but as the fountain of grace. 
Those passages of the word of God which you have 
quoted on this head, are indeed awakening ; may they 
teach us to breathe after holiness, to be more and more 
dead to the world but alive unto God, through Jesus 
Christ. We are lights in the world ; how needful, then, 
that our tempers and lives should manifest our high 
and heavenly calling ! Let us, as we do, provoke one 
another to good works, not doubting but that God will 
bless our feeble endeavors to his glory. 

" I have to bless him for another mercy I have re 
ceived in addition to the multitude of which I am so 
unworthy, in his having given me a friend indeed, one 
who has made much about the same advances in reli- 
gion as myself. We took our degrees together, but 
Mr. Simeon introduced us to each other. I do not 
wonder much at the backwardness you complain of 

before , having never been in much company. But 

the Christian heart is ever overflowing with good- 
will to the rest of mankind ; and this temper will pro- 
duce the truest politeness, of which the affected grimace 



28 MEMOIR OF 

of ungodly men is but the shadow. Besides, the eon- 
fusion felt in company arises in general from vanity : 
therefore, when this is removed, why should we fear 
to speak before the whole world . 

" The gownsman I mentioned, so far from being of- 
fended, has been thanking me for what I said, and is 
so seriously impressed with the awful circumstances 
of death, that I am in hopes it may be the foundation 
of a lasting change." 

It will be highly pleasing to the reader to know, that 
the anticipation with which the above letter concludes 
was verified. Mr. Martyn had afterwards the happiness 
of laboring in India together with that very person 
who had been reproved by him, and who, from the 
divine blessing accompanying that reproof, was then 
first led to appreciate the value of the Gospel. 

From this time to that of proposing himself for ad- 
mission to a fellowship in his college, Mr. Martyn's 
engagements consisted chiefly in instructing some 
pupils, and in preparing himself for the examination 
which was to take place previous to the election in the 
month of March, 1802, when he was chosen fellow of 
St. John's; soon after obtaining which situation, as 
honorable to the society in the appointment, as it was 
gratifying to himself, he employed some of his leisure 
hours, as he expresses it, in writing for one of the 
prizes which are given to those who have been last 
admitted Bachelors of Arts : and though there were 
men of great classical celebrity among those who con- 
tested the palm with him, the first prize was assigned 
to him for the best Latin prose composition ; a distinc- 
tion the more remarkable as from his entrance into 



HENRY MAKTYN. 2U 

the University, he had directed an unceasing and al- 
most undivided attention to mathematics. Having thus 
added another honor to those for which he had before 
been so signally distinguished, Mr. Martyn departed 
from Cambridge, on a visit to his relations in Corn- 
wall; making a circuit on foot through Wenlock, Li- 
verpool, and the vale of Langollen. Of this tour (on 
which he was first attended by one of his friends) he 
has left a Journal, briefly and hastily written, from 
which a few extracts, illustrative of his character, may 
prove not uninteresting. 

" July 9, 1802.— We walked into Wenlock, along a 
most romantic road. My mind during these three days 
has been less distracted than I expected ; and I have 
had, at times, a very cheering sense of the presence of 
my God. 

" July 17. — I went on board a little sloop, and be- 
gan to beat down the Mersey. The Mersey is here 
more than four miles broad, and the wind now increas- 
ing almost to a storm, the ship was a scene of confu- 
sion. One wave broke over us, and wetted me com- 
pletely through. I think there was some danger, though 
the composure I felt did not arise, I fear, so much from 
a sense of my acceptance with God, as from thinking 
the danger not to be great. I had still sufficiently near 
views of death to be uneasy at considering how sloth- 
ful I had been in doing the Lord's work, and how little 
meetness I possessed for the kingdom of glory. Learn 
then, O my soul, to be always ready for the coming of 
the Lord ; that no disquieting fear may arise to per- 
plex thee in that awful hour. 

" July 23.— Holy well. Found myself very low and 



30 MEMOIR OF 

melancholy. If this arises from solitude, I have littln 
pleasure to expect from my future tour. I deserve to 
be miserable, and I wish to be so if ever I seek my 
pleasure in any thing but God. 

" July 25. — Carewys. I did not go to church this 
morning, as the service was in Welch ; but went 
through the church service at home: in the evening 
read Isaiah. 

" July 29. — Aber. Walked two miles into the coun- 
try to see a waterfall. I followed the course of the 
stream, which soon brought me to it. The water falls 
three times from the top — the last fall appeared to be 
about seventy feet. While lingering about here, I was 
put into great terror by some huge stones rolling down 
the hill behind me. They were thrown down by some 
persons above, who could not approach near enough 
to the precipice to see me below. The slipperiness of 
the rocks, on which the spring is continually falling, 
put me in danger. 

" The beautiful and retired situation of the inn at 
Aber, which commands an extensive view of the sea, 
made me unwilling to leave the house. However, I set 
off at eleven, and paced leisurely to Bangor. It was a 
remarkably clear day. The sun shone on every object 
around me, and the sea breeze tempered the air. I felt 
happy at the sight, and could not help being struck 
with the beauty of the creation and the goodness of the 
God of nature. 

" July 31. — Bethgelert. The descent, after ascend- 
ing Snowdon, was easy enough, but I cannot describe 
the horror of the ascent. The deep darkness of the 
night, the howling of the wind in the chasms of the 



HENKY MARTYN. 31 

rocks, the violence of the rain, and the sullen silence 
of the guide, who was sometimes so far back that I 
could hardly see him, all conspired to make the whole 
appear a dream. 

" — Pont Aberglasslen. I met a poor Welch pedlar, 
with a bundle of hats on his back, who, on my inquir- 
ing the distance to Tan-y-Bwlch, told me he was going 
thither. He went by the old road, which is two miles 
nearer. It passes over the most dreary, uncultivated 
hills I ever saw, where there is scarcely any mark of 
human industry. The road in most places is over- 
grown with grass. The poor man had walked from 
Carnarvon that day, with an enormous bundle ; and 
pointed with a sorrowful look to his head ; and indeed 
he did look very ill ; he was however very cheerful : 
what difference in this man's temper and my own ! 
The difference was humbling to myself: when shall 
I learn ' in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be 
content V 

" August 5. — My walk for ten miles was similar to 
that of the preceding evening, only still more beautiful, . 
for the Dovey widened continually, and the opposite 
hills were covered with wood : at last, the river fell into 
the sea, and the view was then fine indeed ; the weather 
was serene, and the sea unruffled. I felt little fatigue ; 
and so my thoughts were turned to God. But if I can- 
not be thankful to him, and be sensible of his presence 
in seasons of fatigue, how can I distinguish the work- 
ing of the Spirit from the ebullitions of animal joy?" 

It is in scenes and seasons of solitude and relaxation, 
such as those here described, that the true bias of the 
mind is apt to discover itself; in which point of view 



32 MEMOIR OF 

the above account is important ; for, short as it is, it 
evinces an habitual devotedness to the fear of God, and 
great spirituality in the affections. 

This tour terminated in bringing Mr. Martyn to the 
bosom of his family ; and days more delightful than 
those which he then spent, he never saw in this world. 
The affectionate reception he met with from his friends ; 
the pious conversation he held with his sister on the 
things dearest to his heart ; his sacred retirements ; and 
the happy necessity imposed upon him of almost ex- 
clusively studying the word of God — all conspired to 
promote his felicity. These hours left for a long time 
" a fragrancy upon his mind, and the remembrance of 
them was sweet." 

" As my sister and myself," he remarks, " were im- 
proved in our attainments, we tasted much agreeable 
intercourse. I did not stay much at Truro, on account 
of my brother's family of children; but at Woodbery, 
with my brother-in-law, I passed some of the sweetest 
moments of my life. The deep solitude of the place 
favored meditation ; and the romantic scenery around 
supplied great external sources of pleasure. For want 
of other books I was obliged to read my Bible almost 
exclusively; and from this I derived great spirituality 
of mind, compared with what I had felt before." 

In the beginning of October. 1802, all these tranquil 
and domestic joys were exchanged for the severer en- 
gagements of the University; and the conclusion of 
this year constituted a memorable era in Mr. Martyn's 
life. We have already seen him becoming the servant 
of Christ, dedicating himself to the ministry of the 
GospeL experiencing the consolations of real religion, 






HENRY MARTYN. 33 

exhibiting its genuine fruits; we are now to behold 
him in a yet higher character, and giving the most ex- 
alted proofs of faith and love. 

God, who has appointed different orders and degrees 
in his church, and who assigns to all the members of 
it their respective stations, was at this time pleased, by 
the almight)' and gracious influence of his Spirit, to 
call the subject of this memoir to a work demanding 
the most painful sacrifices and the most arduous exer- 
tions — that of a Christian missionary. The immediate 
cause of his determination to undertake this office, was 
hearing the Rev. Mr. Simeon remark on the benefit 
which had resulted from the services of Dr. Carey in 
India; his attention was thus arrested, and his thoughts 
occupied with the vast importance of the subject. Soon 
after which, perusing the life of David Brainerd,* who 
preached with apostolical zeal and success to the North 
American Indians, and who finished a course of self- 
denying labors for his Redeemer, with unspeakable 
joy, af the early age of thirty-two, his soul was filled 
with a holy emulation of that extraordinary man ; and, 
after deep consideration and fervent prayer, he was 
at length fixed in a resolution to imitate his example. 
Nor let it be conceived that he could adopt this reso- 
lution without the severest conflict in his mind : for 
he was endued with the truest sensibility of heart, and 
was susceptible of the warmest and tenderest attach- 
ments. No one could exceed him in love for his coun- 
try, or in affection for his friends ; and few could sur- 
pass him in an exquisite relish for the various and re- 
fined enjoyments of a social and literary life. How 

* Published by the American Tract Society. 
Wartyn. 3 



34 MEMOIR OF 

then could it fail ot being a moment of extreme an- 
guish, when he came to the deliberate resolution of 
leaving for ever all he held dear upon earth? But he 
was fully satisfied that the glory of that Savior, who 
loved him and gave himself for him, would be pro- 
moted by his going forth to preach to the heathen ; 
he considered their pitiable and perilous condition ; 
he thought on the value of their immortal souls ; he re- 
membered the last solemn injunction of his Lord, i Go 
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;' an in- 
junction never revoked, and commensurate with that 
most encouraging promise, ' Lo, I am with you alway, 
even unto the end of the world.' Actuated by these mo- 
tives, he offered himself in the capacity of a missionary 
to the Society for Missions to Africa and the East ; and 
from that time stood prepared, with a childlike sim- 
plicity of spirit, and an unshaken constancy of soul, to 
go to any part of the world, whither it might be deem- 
ed expedient to send him. 

The following letter to his youngest sister, written 
not long after the adoption of a resolution so self-de- 
nying in its character, and more particularly some 
passages copiously extracted from his private journal, 
will strikingly exhibit the varied exercises of his mind 
at this interesting and most trying juncture. From 
these it will be seen that he steadily contemplated the 
sacrifices he must make, and the difficulties he might 
encounter ; that though sometimes cast down, he was 
yet uphek' in the prospect of his great work, by Him 
who had cabled him to it ; that his notions of the cha- 
racter of a missionary were elevated — his supplications 



HENRY MARTY N. 35 

for grace and mercy incessant — his examinations of 
his own heart, deep, and sober, and searching ; in one 
word, that he was a man of God, eminently endued 
with ' the spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind.' 
" I received your letter yesterday, and thank God 
for the concern you manifest for my spiritual welfare. 

that we may love each other more in the Lord. The 
passages you bring from the word of God were appro- 
priate to my case, particularly those from the first 
Epistle of St. Peter, and that to the Ephesians ; though 

1 do not seem to have given you a right view of my 
state. The dejection I sometimes labor under seems 
not to arise from doubts of my acceptance with God, 
though it tends to produce them ; nor from despond- 
ing views of my own backwardness in the divine life, 
for I am more prone to self-dependence and conceit ; 
but from the prospect of the difficulties I have to en- 
counter in the whole of my future life. The thought 
that I must be unceasingly employed in the same kind 
of work, amongst poor ignorant people, is what my 
proud spirit revolts at. To be obliged to submit to a 
thousand uncomfortable things that must happen to 
me, whether as a minister or a missionary, is what the 
flesh cannot endure. At these times I feel neither love 
to God nor love to man, and in proportion as these 
graces of the Spirit languish, my besetting sins — pride, 
and discontent, and unwillingness for every duty — 
make me miserable. 

" You will best enter into my views by considering 
those texts which serve to recall me to a right aspect 
of things. I have not that coldness in prayer you 
would expect, but generally find myself strengthened 



$6 MEMOIR OF 

in faith and humility and love after it : but the impres- 
sion is so short ! I am at this time enabled to give my- 
self, body, soul, and spirit, to God, and perceive it to 
be my most reasonable service. How it may be when 
the trial comes, I know not, yet I will trust and not 
be afraid. In order to do his will cheerfully, I want 
love for the souls of men ; to suffer it, I want humili- 
ty : let these be the subjects of your supplications for 
me. I am thankful to God that you are so free from 
anxiety and care : we cannot but with praise acknow- 
ledge his goodness. What does it signify whether we 
be rich or poor, if we are sons of God ? How uncon- 
scious are they of their real greatness — and they will 
be so till they find themselves in glory ! When we 
contemplate our everlasting inheritance, it seems too 
good to be true ; yet it is no more than is due to the 
kindred of ' God manifest in the flesh.' 

" A journey I took last week into Norfolk seems to 
have contributed greatly to my health. The attention 
and admiration shown me are great and very dan- 
gerous. The praises of men do not now, indeed, flatter 
my vanity as they formerly did ; I rather feel pain, 
through anticipation of their consequences : but they 
tend to produce, imperceptibly, a self-esteem and hard- 
ness of heart. How awful and awakening a considera- 
tion is it, that God judgeth not as man judgeth ! Our 
character before him is precisely as it was, before or 
after any change of external circumstances. Men may 
applaud or revile, and make a man think differently of 
himself; but He judgeth of a man according to his 
secret walk. How difficult is the work of self-exami- 
r.ation ! Even to state to you, imperfectly, my own 



HENRY MARTYN. 37 

mind, I found to be no easy matter. Nay, St. Paul 
says, ' I judge not my own self, for he that judgeth me 
is the Lord.' That is, though he was not conscious of 
any allowed sin, yet he was not thereby justified, for 
God might perceive something of which he was not 
aware. How needful, then, the prayer of the Psalmist, 
' Search me, O God, and try my heart, and see if there 
be any evil way in me. 5 May God be with you, and 
bless you, and uphold you with the right hand of his 
righteousness ; and let us seek to love ; for £ he that 
dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, for God is love.' " 

In a journal replete with sentiments of most ardent 
piety, we meet with the following reflections, recorded 
in the interval between the latter end of the year 1802, 
the time when he first resolved to serve Christ as a 
missionary, and the autumn of the year 1803, when he 
received ordination. 

But let us hear his reasons for keeping such a record 
of the state of his mind : — M I am convinced that Chris- 
tian experience is not a delusion ; whether mine is so 
or not will be seen at the last day ; and my object in 
making this journal, is to accustom myself to self- 
examination, and to give my experience a visible form, 
so as to leave a stronger impression on the memory, 
and thus to improve my soul in holiness; for the re- 
view of such a lasting testimony will serve the double 
purpose of conviction and consolation." 

Divided as Christians are in judgment respecting the 
general utility of a religious diary, there can be but 
one opinion amongst them respecting the uncommon 
excellence of the following observations. 

" Since I have endeavored to divest myself of every 



38 MEMOIR OF 

consideration independent of religion, I see the diffi- 
culty of maintaining a liveliness in devotion for any 
considerable time together ; nevertheless, as I shall 
have to pass the gieater part of my future life, after 
leaving England, with no other source of happiness 
than reading, meditation, and prayer, I think it right 
to be gradually mortifying myself to every species of 
worldly pleasure." — " In all my past life, I have fixed 
on some desirable ends, at different distances, the at- 
tainment of which was to furnish me with happiness. 
But now, in seasons of unbelief, nothing seems to lie 
before me but one vast uninteresting wilderness, and 
heaven appearing but dimly at the end. Oh ! how does 
this show the necessity of living by faith ! What a 
shame that I cannot make the doing of God's will my 
ever-delightful object ; and the prize of my high call- 
ing the mark after which I press I" 

" I was under disquiet at the prospect of my future 
work, encompassed, as it appeared, with difficulties ; 
but I trusted I was under the guidance of infinite wis- 
dom, and on that I could rest. Mr. Johnson, who had 
returned from a mission, observed that the crosses to 
be endured were far greater than could be conceived : 
but ( none of these things move me, neither count I my 
life dear unto me, so that I might finish my course 
with joy. Had some disheartening thoughts at night, 
at the prospect of being stripped of every earthly com- 
fort ; but who is it that maketh my comforts to be a 
source of enjoyment? Cannot the same hand make 
cold and hunger, and nakedness and peril,- to be a train 
of ministering angels, conducting me to glory ?" — " O 
my soul, compare thyself with St. Paul, and with the 



HENRY MARTYN. 39 

example and precepts of the Lord Jesus Christ. Was 
it not his meat and drink to do the will of his heavenly 
Father ?'? 

" Finished the account of Dr. Vanderkemp, and 
longed to be sent to China. But I may reasonably 
doubt the reality of every gracious affection, they are 
so like the morning cloud, and transient as the early 
dew. If I had the true love of souls, I should long and 
labor for those around me, and afterwards for the con- 
version of the heathen." 

" I had distressing thoughts about the little pros- 
pect of happiness in my future life. Though God has 
not designed man to be a solitary being, yet surely the 
child of God would delight to pour out his soul for 
whole days together before God. Stir up my soul to 
lay hold on Thee, and remove from me the cloud of 
ignorance and sin that hides from me the glory of 
Jehovah, the excellency of my God"." — " I found But- 
ler's Analogy useful in encouraging me to self-denial, 
by the representation he gives of this life, as a state of 
discipline for a better." — " Since adopting the Gospel 
as the ground of my hope and the rule of my life, I 
feel the force of the argument drawn from its exalted 
morality. In so large a work as the Bible, by so many 
writers, in such different ages, never to meet with any 
thing puerile or inconsistent with their own views of 
the Deity, is a circumstance unparalleled in any other 
book." — " Respecting what is called the experience of 
Christians, it is certain that we have no reason, from 
the mere contemplation of the operations of our own 
minds, to ascribe them to an extrinsic agent, because 
they arise from their proper causes, and are directed 



40 MEMOIR OF 

to their proper ends. The truth or falsehood of pre- 
tences to the experience of divine agency, must depend 
on the truth or falsehood of Scripture ; that warrants 
us sufficiently, for it informs us that it is ' God that 
worketh in us, both to will and to do, of his good plea- 
sure;' which passage, while it asserts the reality of 
God's influence, points out also the manner of his act- 
ing, for he works in us to will before he works in us 
to do. This effectually guards against fanaticism, for 
no one will pretend that he can ever put his finger on 
those mysterious springs which move the will, or 
knows what they be ; and therefore he cannot say, 
novo God is exerting his influence. He may reasonably, 
indeed, and ought to ascribe every good thought to 
God; but still every good thing in him is but the effect 
of something preceding his first perception, therefore 
is posterior to the moving cause, which must hence be 
for ever concealed from the immediate knowledge of 

man." — " H came, and we resumed our exercises 

of reading and prayer. Though it be true that the 
more strict our obedience is, the more evidently does 
the imperfection of it appear, yet I think it reasonable 
to be thankful that I have received grace to stir one 
single step this day towards the kingdom of heaven." 
" After my prayers, my mind seems touched with hu- 
mility and love ; but the impression decays so soon ! 
Resolved for the future to use more watchfulness in 
reading and prayer." — "My prayers have been fre- 
quent of late, but I cannot realize the presence of the 
Almighty God : I have not enjoyed communion with 
him, or else there would not be such strangeness in my 
heart towards the world to come."—" In my walk out, 



HENRY MARTYN. 41 

and during the remainder of the day, the sense of my 
own weakness and worthlessness called me to watch- 
fulness, and dependence on the grace of Christ." — " My 
soul rather benumbed than humble and contrite ; tired, 
with watchfulness, though so short and so feeble r *~~ 
" sudden flashes of faint affection to-day, which raised 
self-satisfaction, but no abiding humiliation." — " Talk- 
ed with much contemptuous severity about conformity 
to the world ; alas ! all that is done in this way had 
better be left undone." — " This was a day when I could 
only by transient glimpses perceive that all things 
were ' loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of 
Christ Jesus my Lord.' " 

" I am not conscious of any particular backsliding 
from God ; I think my prayers have been more earn- 
est ; yet the views of my own heart have produced, 
not humility, but discontent, I suppose because they 
are grating to pride." — " What is the state of my own 
soul before God ? I believe that it is right in princi- 
ple : I desire no other portion but God : but I pass so 
many hours as if there were no God at all. I live far 
below the hope, comfort, and holiness of the Gospel ; 
but be not slothful, O my soul ! — look unto Jesus, the 
author and finisher of thy faith. For whom was grace 
intended, if not for me ? Are not the promises made 
to me 1 Is not my Maker in earnest, when he deciar- 
eth that he willeth my sanctification, and hath laid 
help on one that is mighty ? I will therefore have no 
confidence in the flesh, but will rejoice in the Lord, 
and the joy of the Lord shall be my strength. May I 
receive from above a pure, a humble, a benevolent- a 
heavenly mind !" 



42 MEMOIR OK 

"Rose at half past five, and walked a little before 
chapel, in a happy frame of mind. Endeavored to 
maintain affectionate thoughts of God as my Father, 
jm awakening in the morning. Setting a watch over 
my first thoughts, and endeavoring to make them 
humble and devout, I find to be an excellent prepara- 
tion for prayer, and for a right spirit during the day. 
I was in a happy frame most of the day ; towards the 
evening, from seeking to maintain this right state by 
my own strength, instead of giving it permanency by 
faith in Jesus, I grew tired and very insensible to most 
things. At chapel the sacred melody wafted my soul 
to heaven : the blessedness of heaven appeared so 
sweet, that the very possibility of losing it appeared 
terrible, and raised a little disquiet with my joy. After 
all, I had rather live in an humble and dependent spi- 
rit ; for then, perceiving underneath me the everlasting 
arms, I can enjoy my security." — " Amid the joyous 
affections of this day, I quickly forgot my own worth- 
lessness and helplessness, and thus, looking off from 
Jesus, found myself standing on slippery ground. But 
Oh I the happiness of that state, where pride shall ne- 
ver intrude to make our joys an occasion of sorrow. 5 ' 

" Rose at six, and passed the morning in great tran- 
quillity. Learnt by heart some of the first three chap- 
ters of Revelation. This is to me the most search- 
ing and alarming part of the Bible ; yet now with 
humble hope I trusted that the censures of my Lord 
did not belong to me : except that those words — Rev. 
2 : 3, — c for my name's sake thou hast labored and 
hast not fainted,' were far too high a testimony for me 
to think of appropriating to myself; nevertheless I be- 



HENRY MARTY N. 4& 

sought the Lord, that whatever I had been, I might 
now be perfect and complete in all the will of God." 
— " Men frequently admire me, and I am pleased ; but 
I abhor the pleasure I feel ; oh ! did they but know 
that my root is rottenness !" — " Heard Professor 
Farish preach at Trinity Church, on Luke, 12 : 4, 5, 
and was deeply impressed with the reasonableness 
and necessity of the fear of God. Felt it to be a light 
matter to be judged of man's judgment; why have I 
not awful apprehensions of the glorious Being at all 
times 1 The particular promise — ' him that overcom- 
eth will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and 
he shall go no more out ' — dwelt a long time in my 
mind, and diffused an affectionate reverence of God." 
I see a great work before me now, namely, the subdu- 
ing and mortifying of my perverted will. What am I, 
that I should dare to do my own will, even if I were 
not a sinner ! but now how plain, how reasonable, to have 
the love of Christ constraining me to be his faithful, 
willing servant, cheerfully taking up the cross he shall 
appoint me." — " Read some of Amos with Lowth. 
The reading of the Prophets is to me one of the most 
delightful employments. One cannot but be charmed 
with the beauty of the imagery, while they never fail 
to inspire me with awful thoughts of God and of his 
hatred of sin. The reading of Baxter's Saint's Rest 
determined me to live more in heavenly meditation." 
— " Walked by moonlight, and found it a sweet relief 
to my mind to think of God and consider my ways 
before him. I was strongly impressed with the vanity 
of the world, and could not help wondering at the im- 
perceptible operation of grace, which had enabled me 



44 MEMOIR OF 

to resign the expectation of happiness from it." — 
" How frequently has my heart been refreshed by the 
descriptions, in the Scriptures, of the future glory oi 
the Church, and the happiness of man hereafter !" — 
" I felt the force of Baxter's observation, that if an an- 
gel had appointed to meet me, I should be full of awe ; 
how much more when I am about to meet God !" — 
"In my usual prayer at noon, besought God to give 
me a heart to do his will." — " For poor I inter- 
ceded most earnestly, even with tears. 55 

That one thus eminently watchful and holy, who 
" counted all things but loss for the excellency of the 
knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, 55 should speak of 
himself in the strongest terms of self-condemnation, 
will appear incongruous to those only who forget that 
the prophet, who uttered in the presence of Jehovah 
the words of submissive devotion, " Here am I, send 
me, 55 exclaimed at the same time, in the lowly lan- 
guage of contrition, " Wo is me, for I am undone, for 
I am a man of unclean lips ;' 5 and that it was when the 
Laodiceans ceased to know that they were " wretched, 
and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, M that 
they became defective in zeal for the glory of their 
Savior. Whoever considers that tenderness of con- 
science is found always in an exact proportion to fer- 
vent desires after an entire conformity to the divine 
image, will be prepared to expect, and pleased to pe- 
ruse, such humble confessions and sacred aspirations 
as Mr. Martyn's, which seem to bring us back to the 
days of Ephraim the Syrian, and St. Augustine. " The 
essence of evangelical humiliation, 55 says President 
Edwards, in his treatise on the Religious Affections 5 






HENRY A1ARTYN. 45 

u consists in such humility as becomes a creature un- 
der a dispensation of grace, consisting in a mean es- 
teem of himself, as nothing, and as altogether con- 
temptible and odious, attended with a mortification of 
a disposition to exalt himself, and a free renunciation 
of his own glory. He that has much grace, appre- 
hends, much more than others, that great height to 
which his love ought to ascend, and he sees better 
than others how little a way he has risen toward that 
height ; and therefore, estimating his love by the 
whole height of his duty, it appears astonishingly lit- 
tle and low in his eyes. It most demonstratively ap- 
pears that true grace is of that nature, that the more a 
person has of it, with remaining corruption, the less 
does his goodness and holiness appear, in proportion, 
not only to his past deformity, but to his present defor- 
mity, in the sin that now appears in his heart, and in 
the abominable defects of his highest affections and 
brightest experience.' What better comment can be 
found on these profoundly scriptural remarks of a di- 
vine who stood singularly high in Mr. Martyn's esti- 
mation, than the self-abasing acknowledgments which 
follow ? 

" What a sink of corruption is the heart ! and yet I 
can go from day to day in self-seeking and self-pleas- 
ing. Lord ! show me myself, as nothing but wounds 
and bruises and putrefying sores, and teach me to live 
by faith on Christ, my all." — " I fear the exemption 
from assaults, either external or internal, is either in it- 
self a bad symptom of self-ignorance, or leads to pride 
and self-seeking. Reveal to me the evil of my heart, 
thou heart-searching God." 



46 MEMOIR OF 

" I feel a sad strangeness between God and my soul, 

from careless, unbelieving prayer ; I am afraid the 
work of grace is but shallow. I pray, but look not for 
an answer from above ; but while I consider, at the 
times of prayer, every grace as coming from God. yet, 
in the general tenor of my course, I seem to lay the 
greater stress on my own endeavors, heedless of the 
strength of Christ." — " How much better it is to have 
a peaceful sense of my own wretchedness, and a hum- 
ble waiting upon God for sanctifying grace, than to 
talk much and appear to be somebody in religion !" 

" O my God ! who seest me write, and recordest in 
the book of thy remembrance more faithfully, my sins 
and my backslid ings ; bring down my soul to repent 
in dust and ashes for my waste of time, carnal compla- 
cency, and self-sufficiency. I would desire to devote 
myself anew to thee in Christ ; though I fear I hardly 
know what it means, so great, in reality, is my igno- 
rance of myself." 

"Short and superficial in prayer this morning, and 
there undoubtedly is the evil. Read Lowth ; learnt 
the 15th of John ; and endeavored faintly to be draw- 
ing nigh unto God. Read Brainerd's Journal in the 
afternoon. At Mr. Simeon's church this evening, my 
mind was wandering and stupid. His sermon was 
very impressive, on Rev. 3:2. Thanks to God that, 
though my graces are declining, and my corruptions 
increasing, I am not unwilling to be reclaimed. For 
with all this evil in my heart, I would not, could 
not, choose any other than God for my portion/ 1 
" At dear Mr. Simeon's rooms I perceived that I had 
given him pain by inattention to his kind instructions 



HENKY MARTY N. 47 

Base wretch that I am, that by carelessness and im- 
mortified pride I should thus ungratefully repay his 
unexampled kindness. But if the sense of ingratitude 
to man be thus painful, what ought I not to feel in re- 
ference to God, that good and holy Being, whose spa- 
ring mercy keeps me out of hell, though I daily dis- 
honor Christ, and grieve his holy Spirit ! But, O my 
soul ! it is awful to trifle in religion. Confession is not 
repentance, neither is the knowledge of sin contri- 
tion." — " Hearing I was to meet two men who were 
not serious, I felt pride, contempt, and discontent, to 
be the torment of my heart. 55 " Condemned myself for 
not exerting myself in doing good to man, by visiting 
the sick, &c. Certainly every grace must be in exer- 
cise, if we would enjoy the communion of the perfect 
God. 'I am the Almighty God ; walk before me, and 
be thou perfect.' Every wheel of the chariot must be 
in motion to gain the race." 

" I found a want of the presence of God from the 
fear of having acted against the suggestion of con- 
science, in indulging myself with reading the amusing 
account of Dr. Vanderkemp, instead of applying to the 
severer duties of the morning. God be merciful to me 
a sinner! 

a Was in a composed state, but security led to pride. 
On my looking up to God for pardon of it, and for de- 
liverance from it, I feel overwhelmed with guilt. How 
fast does pride ripen the soul for hell !" — " Retained the 
manna of past experience till it putrefied in my hand." 
— " How utterly forgetful have I been this day of the 
need of Christ's grace, of my own poverty and vile- 
ness! Let me then remember, that all apparent joy 



IS MEMOIR OF 

hi God, without humility, is a mere delusion of Sa- 
tan." — " This is my birth-day, and I am ashamed to 
review the past : Lord Jesus, watch over me in this 
deceitful calm ! Let me beware of the lethargy, lest it 
terminate in death. I desire on this day to renew my 
vows to the Lord, and O that every succeeding year 
of my life may be more devoted to His glory than the 
last." 

"I thought that my fretfuluess, and other marks of 
an unsubdued spirit, arose from a sense of my cor- 
ruption, and a secret dependence on my own powers 
for a cure. Were I to bring the maladies of my soul 
to the great Physician, in simple reliance on his 
grace, I should, with many other benefits, receive a 
cure of that bane of my peace, disappointed arrogance, 
which proudly seeks for good where it can never be 
found. In every disease of the soul, let me charge 
myself with the blame, and Christ with the cure of it, 
so shall I be humbled and Christ glorified.' 5 — " I do 
not doubt but that I belong to God, yet I am afraid to 
rejoice in that relation. I do not live in the sense oi 
my own helplessness, and therefore do not perceive 
that my security is not in myself, but in Jesus Christ, 
the same yesterday, to-day and for ever." — " I found 
that the omission of my journal had been attended 
with bad effects. O wretched man that I am ! If 
God's word did not unequivocally declare the despe- 
rate wickedness of the heart, I should sink down in 
despair. Nothing but infinite grace can save me. But 
that which most grieves me, is, that I am not more 
humbled at the contemplation of myself." 

" When I look back on every day, I may say I have 



HENRY MARTYN. 49 

k>st it. So much time misspent ; so many opportunities 
lost, oi doing good, by spreading the knowledge of the 
truth by conversation, or by example ; so little zeal for 
God, or love to man ; so much vanity, and levity, and 
pride, and selfishness, that I may well tremble at the 
world of iniquity within. If ever I am saved, it must 
be by grace. May God give me a humble, contrite, 
childlike, affectionate spirit, and a willingness to forego 
my ease continually for his service." 

" What is my journal, but a transcript of my follies ? 
what else is the usual state of my mind, but weakness, 
vanity, and sin? O that I could meditate constantly 
upon divine things; that the world and its poor con- 
cerns might no more distract my heart from God. 
But £iow little do I know or experience of the power 
of Christ ! Truly I find my pronenessto sin, and that 
generally prevailing ignorance of my mind by which 
all motives to diligence and love are made to disappear, 
to be my misery. Now therefore I desire to become a 
fool, that I may be wise : ' the meek will he guide in 
judgment.' " 

" I felt humbled at the remembrance of misspent 
hours, and while this frame of mind continued, all the 
powers of my soul were perceptibly refreshed. The 
last three chapters of St. John were peculiarly sweet, 
and I longed to love. Mr. Simeon preached on John, 
15 : 12 ; ' This is my commandment, that ye love one 
another, as I have loved you.' I saw my utter want 
of such a love as he described it: so disinterested 
sympathizing, beneficent, and self-denying. Resolved 
to make the acquisition of it the daily subject of my 
toiure endeavors."— cc I cared not what was the state 

Murtyix. 4 



50 MEMOIR OF 

of pleasure or pain in my heart, so that I knew its 
depth of iniquity, and could be poor and contrite in 
spirit ; but it is hard and stubborn, and ignorant." — 
"Pride shows itself every hour of every day 5 what 
long and undisturbed possession does self-compla- 
cency hold of my heart ! what plans, and dreams, and 
visions of futurity fill my imagination, in which self 
is the prominent object I" — " In my intercourse with 
some of my dear friends, the workings of pride were 
but too plainly marked in my outward demeanor ; on 
looking up to God for pardon for it, and deliverance 
from it, I felt overwhelmed with guilt. I was unwill- 
ing to resume my studies, while so much seemed to 
remain to be done in my own heart. Read Hopkins' 
Sermon on true Happiness, and analyzed it. The^obe- 
dience required in it terrified me at first, but after- 
wards I could adore God that he had required me to 
be perfectly holy. I thought that I could cheerfully 
do his will, though the world, the flesh, and the devil 
should rise up against me ; I desired to be filled with 
the fruits of righteousness, particularly with humility 
and love for the poor of Christ's flock." 

" Drew near to the Lord in prayer, but was rather 
elevated than humbled afterwards. At Mr. Simeon's 
was deeply impressed with his sermon on Eccles. 
8 : 11 ; it was a complete picture of the human heart, 
and when he came to say that they sinned habitually, 
deliberately, and without remorse, I could scarcely be- 
lieve I was so vile a wretch as I then saw myself to 
be. It was a most solemn discourse." — " The less we 
do, the more we value it ; how poor, and mean, and 
pitiful would many even of present Christians esteem 



HENRY MARTYN. 51 

my life ! Dear Savior, I desire to be no more luke- 
warm, but to walk nigh to God, to be dead to the 
world, and longing for the coming of Christ." 

" I read Hebrew, and the Greek of the Epistle to the 
Hebrews. This Epistle is not only not most uninterest- 
ing, as it formerly was, but is now the sweetest portion 
of the Holy Scripture I know ; partly, I suppose, because 
I can look up to Jesus as my High Priest, though I 
may very often doubt whether I am interested in him. 
Yet O how free is his love to the chief of sinners !" 
" How many of my days are lost, if their worth is to 
be measured by the standard of prevailing heavenly- 
mindedness I I want, above all things, a willingness to 
be despised. What but the humbling influence of the 
Spirit, showing me my vileness and desperate wicked- 
ness, can ever produce such an habitual temper !" 

" Mr. Simeon's sermon this evening, on 2 Chron. 
32 : 31, discovered to me my corruption and vileness 
more than any sermon I had ever heard." — " O that 
I had a more piercing sense of the divine presence ! 
How much sin in the purest services ! If I were sitting 
in heavenly places with Christ, or rather with my 
thoughts habitually there, how would every duty, but 
especially this of social prayer, become easy. Memoria 
tua sancta, et dulcedo tua beatissima, possideat animam 
meam, atque in invisibilium amorem rapiat illam."* 

" This day was set apart for a public fast. I prayed 
rather more than two hours, chiefly with confession of 
my own sins, those of my family, and the church : 

* May the sacred remembrance of thee, and of thy most 
blessed delight, possess my soul, and bear it away in the love 
of unseen things. 



52 MEMOIR OF 

alas ! so much was required to be said on the first head, 
that I should have been at no loss to have dwelt upon 
it the whole day." — " Suffered sleepiness to prevent 
my reading to my servant : it is hurtful to my con- 
science to let slight excuses for an omission of duty 
prevail." — " what cause for shame and self-abhor- 
rence arises from the review of every day ! In morn- 
ing prayer, as usual of late, my soul longed to leave 
its corruptions, to think of Christ, and live by him. I 
labored to represent to myself powerful considerations, 
to stir up my slothful heart to activity, particularly 
that which respects giving instruction to people, and pray 
ing with them. I set before myself the infinite mercy of 
being out of hell — of being permitted to do the will of 
God — of the love of Christ, which was so disinterest- 
ed — how he passed his life in going about doing good — 
how those men who were truly great, the blessed apos- 
tles, did the same — how the holy angels would delight 
to be employed on errands of mercy. A ray of light 
seems to break upon my mind for a moment, and dis- 
covers the folly and ignorance of this sinful heart ; but 
it quickly returns to its former hardness. My will is to 
sit all day reading, not making any effort to think, but 
letting the book fill the mind with a succession of no- 
tions ; and when the time comes for reading the Scrip- 
ture and praying, then it recoils. When an opportune 
ty offers of speaking for the good of others, or assist- 
ing a poor person, then it makes a thousand foolish 
excuses. It would rather go on wrapt in self, and leave 
the world to perish. Ah ! what a heart is mine ! The 
indistinctness of my view of its desperate wickedness 
is terrible to me, that is, when I am capable of feeling 



HENRY MARTY N. 53 

any terror. But now, my soul ! rise from earth and 
hell — shall Satan lead me captive at his will, when 
Christ ever liveth to make intercession for the vilesi 
worm ? O thou ! whose I am by creation, preservation, 
redemption, no longer my own, but his who lived — and 
died, and rose again — once more would I resign this 
body and soul, mean and worthless as they are, to the 
blessed disposal of thy holy will ! May I have a heart 
to love God and his people, the flesh being crucified ! 
May grace abound, where sin has abounded much ! 
May I cheerfully and joyfully resign my ease and life 
in the service of Jesus, to whom I owe so much ! May 
it be sweet to me to proclaim to sinners like myself, 
the blessed efficacy of my Savior's blood I May he 
make me faithful unto death ! The greatest enemy I 
dread is the pride of my own heart. Through pride 
reigning, I should forget to know a broken spirit : 
then would come on unbelief — weakness — apostacy." 
" If it is a mercy that I am out of hell, what account 
should I make of the glorious work of the ministry, to 
which I am to be called, who am not worthy to be 
trodden under foot of men." 

Thus having attained to a degree of self-knowledge 
and spirituality equally rare, and being thoroughly in- 
structed how " he ought to behave himself in the 
church of God — the church of the living God — the pil- 
iar and ground of the truth" — Mr. Martyn prepared for 
the solemn rite of his ordination, which was adminis- 
tered at Ely, on Sunday, October 22, 1803: "Blessed 
is the man whom Thou choosest, and causest to ap- 
proach unto Thee, that he may dwell in thy courts;" 
Pealm 45:4. This blessing surely rested in an emi- 



54 MEMOIR OF 

nent degree on Mr. Martyn : for what a contrast does 
his approach to the altar on this occasion exhibit to 
that of those who presumptuously intrude into the 
sacred office, " seeking their own things, and not the 
things of Jesus Christ !" Truly might he affirm, that 
he was '•' inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost, to take 
upon him that office and ministration, to serve God by 
promoting his glory and edifying his people;" and 
truly did he resolve to " give himself continually to 
prayer and to the ministry of the word." Yet his self- 
abasement was, as usual, conspicuous, and he bewailed 
having presented himself for admission into the minis- 
try of the Lord Jesus, " in so much ignorance and un- 
tidiness ;" and at the same time poured out his prayer, 
that he might have " grace to fulfill those promises 
which he had made before God and the people." The 
awful weight of ordination vows was impressed on no 
one's mind more deeply than on his ; the thought of 
his responsibility would have overwhelmed him, had 
he not been supported by remembering that the trea- 
sure of the Gospel was placed " in earthen vessels, that 
the excellency of the power might be of God, and not 
of man." That which was the comfort of Polycarp, was 
his consolation — that he who was constituted an over 
seer of the church, was himself overlooked by Jesus 
Christ — and that in the discharge of his office as pastor 
of the flock, he was ever under the gracious superin- 
tendence of that great and good Shepherd who cc laid 
down his life for the sheep." 

A circumstance which occurred at this time shows 
how seriously his mind was affected. From a consti- 
tutional delicacy and reserve, no one had naturally a 



HENRY MARTYN. 55 

greater reluctance than Mr. Martyn to obtrude himself 
on the notice of others in the way of admonition ; it 
was a task from which his feelings recoiled. Observ- 
ing, however, with pain and sorrow, one of the candi- 
dates for ordination in an apparently careless and un- 
concerned state, he took an opportunity, though the 
party was not personally known to him, of admonish- 
ing him privately on the subject : and in what a strain 
such a man would speak at such a moment, may more 
easily be conceived than expressed. A deep conviction 
of the necessity of reproving others, and not suffering 
sin to remain in them, often induced Mr. Martyn to do 
violence to the retiring tenderness of his disposition. 
He felt reproof to be " a duty of unlimited extent and 
almost insuperable difficulty " — but, said he, "the way 
to know when to address men, and when to abstain, 
is to love;" and, as love is most genuine when the 
heart is most abased, he resolved not to reprove others, 
where he could conscientiously be silent, except he 
experienced at the time a peculiar contrition of spirit. 



CHAPTER IIJ. 

ENTERS ON HIS MINISTERIAL LABORS — ACTS AS EXAMINER IN THE 
UNIVERSITY — APPLIES FOR A CHAPLAINSHIP UNDER THE EAST 
INDIA COMPANY — PURSUES HIS MINISTERIAL LABORS — SUPREME 
REGARD TO PERSONAL RELIGION — VISITS CORNWALL — SUFFER- 
INGS ON LEAVING ENGLAND. 

The exercise of his pastoral function Mr. Martyn 
commenced as curate of the Rev. C^ Simeon, in "the 



56 MEMOIR Of 

Church of the Holy Trinity" in Cambridge ; undertak- 
ing likewise the charge of the parish of Lolworth, a 
small village at no great distance from the University. 
There it was, on the Sunday after his ordination, that 
he preached his first sermon, on the following words : 
" If a man die 3 shall he live again ? — all the days of my 
appointed time will I wait, till my change come ;' * 
Job, 14:14. After delivering his second sermon at 
which place, on the succeeding Sunday, an incident 
occurred on his way home, which he recorded in his 
Journal, and which could not well be effaced from his 
remembrance. An old man, who had been one of his 
auditors, walked by the side of his horse for a consi- 
derable time, warning him to reflect, that if any souls 
perished through his negligence, their blood would be 
required at his hand. He exhorted him to show his 
hearers that they were perishing sinners ; to be much 
engaged in secret prayer; and to labor after an entire 
departure from himself to Christ. " From what he said 
on the last head, (observes Mr. Martyn,) it was clear 
that I had but little experience; but I lifted up my 
heart afterwards to the Lord, that I might be fully in- 
structed in righteousness." So meekly and thankfully 
did this young minister listen to the affectionate coun- 
sel of an old disciple. 

On Thursday, Nov. 10, he preached for the first 
time at Trinity Church, tn a numerous and earnestly 
attentive congregation, upon part of that address of 
Jesus to the woman of Samaria : — " If thou knewest the 
gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, 'Give me 
to drink,' thou wouldest have asked of him, and he 
would have given thee living water," John, 4:10: 



HENRY MARTYN. 57 

when it was his fervent desire and prayer to entei 
fully into the solemn spirit of those well-known lines: 

11 I'd preach as though I ne'er should preach again; 
I'd preach as dying, unto dying men." 

Nor could words characterize more justly the usual 
strain of his preaching: for whether the congregation 
he addressed were great or small, learned and refined, 
or poor and ignorant, he spake as one who had a mes- 
sage to them from God, and who was impressed with 
the consideration that both he and they must shortly 
stand before thet Judge of quick and dead. 

The burdens and difficulties of his sacred employ- 
ments lay heavily at first on Mr. Martyn's mind, and 
considerably depressed his spirits; but he endeavored, 
he writes in a letter to his earliest friend, to keep in 
view "the unreasonableness of his discontent, w T ho 
was a brand plucked out of the lire, and the glorious 
blessedness of the ministerial work." At times, he con- 
fesses, he was tried with a "sinful dislike of»his paro- 
chial duty " — and seemed frequently " as a stone speak- 
ing to stones " — and he laments that " want of private 
devotional reading, and shortness of prayer, through 
incessant sermon-making, had produced much strange- 
ness between God and his soul." — " Every time," he 
remarked, " that I open the Scriptures, my thoughts 
are about a sermon or exposition, so that even in pri- 
vate I seem to be reading in public." Young ministers 
— those especially who are placed in extensive spheres 
of action — are not ignorant of the temptations of which 
Mr. M-artyn here complains; and to them it must be 
a consolation to be assured that the same trials were 



58 MEMOIR OF 

not unknown to one of the most devoted and most 
faithful of their brethren. 

Added to those duties which had now become his 
peculiar care, and in which, notwithstanding some 
momentary depressions, he continued steadfast and 
unmovable, always abounding in his work — an office 
of another kind devolved on him towards the close of 
the year 1803, that of one of the public examiners in 
his college : and if it were too much to say that an 
examination in the classics at St. John's lias rarely 
been conducted more to the credit of the society, or to 
the advantage of the students, or to the honor of the 
examiner; certainly it would not be declaring too 
much to aver, that never, since the foundation of the 
college, has one been held in a more Christian spirit, 
and in a more strict accordance with that extensive 
apostolical injunction — " Whatsoever ye do, in word or 
deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." The vigi- 
lance with which Mr. Martyn prepared for this duty, 
and the ^humility with which he speaks of himself 
when engaged in the execution of it, show that his 
Christianity was of the highest proof. 

" I read Mitford's History of Greece, as I am to be 
classical examiner. To keep my thoughts from wan- 
dering away to take pleasure in these studies, required 
more watchfulness and earnestness in prayer than I 
can account for. But earnest ejaculation was effectual 
to make me return to the word of God with some de- 
light. l The carnal mind is enmity against God,' — and 
so I find it. I was obliged to reason with myself, and 
to force open my eyes, that I might see the excellency 
of divine things. Did I delight in reading the retreat 



HENRY MARTYN. 59 

of the ten thousand Greeks, and shall not my soul 
glory in the knowledge of God, who created the 
Greeks, and the vast countries over which they passed ? 
I examined in Butler's Analogy, and in Xenophon ; 
how much pride and ostentatious display of learning 
was visible in my conduct ! — how that detestable spi- 
rit follows me, whatever I do !" 

It was customary with Mr. 3Viart3 r n, at the com- 
mencement of a new year, to take a solemn review of 
the time past, and to contemplate his future prospects. 
In the review of his journal of the year 1803, he judged 
that he had dedicated too much time to public minis- 
trations, and too little to private communion with God. 
Yet he trusted that he had grown in grace, inasmuch 
as the bent of his desires was towards God, more than 
when he first thought of becoming a Missionary. " In 
heavenly contemplation and abstraction of mind," he 
adds, " my attainments have fallen far short of my ex- 
pectation; but in a sense of my own worthlessness 
and guilt, and in a consequent subjugation of the will, 
and in a disposition for labor and active exertion, I am 
inclined to think myself gaining ground. My soul ap- 
proves thoroughly the life of God, and my one only 
desire is to be entirely devoted to him ; and O may I 
live very near to him in the ensuing year, and follow 
the steps of Christ and his holy saints. I have resigned, 
in profession, the riches, the honors, and the comforts 
of this world : and I think also it is a resignation of the 
heart." Then, after having set apart a day for fasting 
and prayer, he besought God " for understanding and 
strength, to fit him for a long life of warfare and con- 
stant self-denial, and that he might see clearly why 



60 ' MEMOIR OP 

he was placed here, how short the time was, and how 
excellent to labor for souls, and, above all, to feel his 
desert of hell." He prayed also for grace to " enlighten 
him in the dark seasons of trouble and desponding 
faith ; that he might not shrink from cold and hunger, 
and painful labor, but might follow the Lamb whither- 
soever he went." His soul longed for perfection, but 
he " feared that he had not yet learned the secret of 
happiness — a poor and contrite spirit." 

In the early part of the year 1804, Mr. Martyn's 
expectations of becoming a missionary were consider- 
ably damped by the very trying event of his losing all 
his slender patrimony ; a loss rendered more severe to 
him by the circumstance of his younger sister being 
involved in the same calamity. His designs of leaving 
England were, in consequence of this disaster, likely 
to be frustrated ; for his pecuniary resources were cut 
off, and it appeared to him scarcely justifiable to leave 
his sister in actual distress, when his presence in Eng- 
land might alleviate or remove it. In order, therefore, 
that he might consult some of his friends in this emer- 
gency, at the end of June he left Cambridge for 
London. 

The situation of a chaplain to the East India Com- 
pany had long appeared to many of those who took a 
lively interest in him and his work, to be peculiarly 
eligible, as offering singular facilities for missionary 
exertions among millions of idolaters. The pecuniary 
advantages of the appointment were at first wholly out 
of their contemplation; and for himself, when it was 
intimated to him that there was some expectation oi 
his leaving England in the capacity of chaplain to the 



HENRY MARTYN. * 61 

East India Company, his private journal contains this 
remarkable reflection : — " The prospect of this world? s 
happiness gave me rather pain than pleaswre^ which 
convinced me that I had been running away from the 
world rather than overcoming it." That unexpected 
change which had now taken place in Mr. Martyn's 
circumstances caused an increased anxiety amongst 
his friends to procure, if possible, the appointment 
which before they had deemed so desirable ; and they 
were not without hopes of seeing the Mission Church 
at Calcutta placed under his pastoral superintendence. 
Insuperable obstacles, however, interfered with this 
arrangement, and " a veil was thus cast over his future 
proceedings." 

The patience which Mr. Martyn manifested under 
this disappointment, was as edifying and extraordi- 
nary as the watchfulness which he exercised over his 
mind during his visit to London, lest scenes so differ- 
ent from those at Cambridge should prove to him a 
source of distraction and dissipation. He speaks at this 
time of returning on one occasion to his room, after 
having been much abroad and making many visits, 
11 unable to remain in an unholy, dissipated state, and 
seeking God earnestly in prayer." Whilst waiting at 
the India House, he employed that time " for which," 
he says, " he would have given any thing at Cam- 
bridge," in private ejaculatory prayer, and in repeating 
passages from the word of God ; — and yet, though he 
ever aimed at an entire abstraction from the vanities 
of the world, he hesitated not to allow himself the full 
enjoyment of rational and refined gratifications : his 
observations on this head are well worth recording: 



62 * MEMOIR OF 

" Since I Lave known God in a saving manner," he 
remarks, "painting, poetry, and music have had 
charms unknown to me before. I have received what 
I suppose is a taste for them ; for religion has refined 
my mind, and made it susceptible of impressions from 
the sublime and beautiful. O how religion secures the 
heightened enjoyment of those pleasures which keeps 
so many from God, by their becoming a source of 
pride !" 

Unable at present to discern the cloud which should 
conduct him on his way, Mr. Martyn resumed his min- 
isterial functions at Cambridge with ardor, but with 
a heavy heart. The affairs of his family affecting, as 
they did, his own destination- as well as his sister's 
happiness, were no light pressure upon his spirits ; in 
any other point of view, they would scarcely have raised 
a sigh, and certainly would not greatly have disturbed 
his composure. But when " most oppressed," he was 
enabled to find comfort in reflecting that " even such 
a condition was infinitely preferable to that of those 
whose minds were discontented in the pursuit of dan- 
gerous trifles." 

The words of the wise man, that " the day of death 
is better than the day of one's birth," can apply only 
to those who practically discern, in the light of the 
Scriptures, the great end of their existence. This sub- 
ject was ever in Mr. Martyn's contemplation ; and that 
he might more closely consider the object for which 
he was created, he never failed in making a parties 
lar commemoration of the anniversary of his birth. 
" Twenty-three years have elapsed " he wrote on the 
18th of February, 1804 "since I saw the light — only 



HENRY MARTY N. 63 

four of which have been professedly given to God ; — 
much has been left undone ; much remains to be done 
as a Christian and minister ; yet my past experience 
of the long-suffering of God leaves me no doubt of 
being carried on all the way. I feel that my heart is 
wholly for heaven, and the world mainly behind my 
back. Praised be the Lord for his mercy and patience ! 
The number of my days is fixed in his purpose : — O 
may I l glorify him on earth, and finish the work he 
has given me to do. 5 " 

That his heart was " wholly for heaven," is evinc- 
ed by the following reflection on a conversation in 
the hall of St. John's : — " At dinner they w T ere talking 
of stones falling from the moon. My imagination be- 
gan to ascend among the shining worlds hung in the 
midst of space, and to glance from one to another, and 
my heart bounded at the thought that I was going a 
much surer way to behold the glories of the Creator 
hereafter, than by giving up my time to speculations 
about them." 

In the interval which passed between the months of 
February and June, he was found earnestly laboring 
in the service of his divine Master. He preached ani- 
mating and awakening discourses : he excited socie- 
ties of private Christians to " watch, quit themselve? 
as men, and be strong :" he visited many of the poor, 
the afflicted, and the dying: he warned numbers of 
the careless and profligate :— in a word, he did the 
work of an Evangelist. Often did he redeem time from 
study, from recreation, and from the intercourse ot 
friends, that, like his Redeemer, he might enter the 
abodes of misery, either to arouse the unthinking 



64 MEMOIR OF 

slumberer, or to administer consolation to the dejected 
penitent. Many an hour did he pass in an hospital or 
an alms-house j— and often, after a day of labor and fa- 
tigue, when wearied almost to the extremity of endu- 
rance, he would read and pray with the servant who 
had the care of his rooms ; thus making it his meat 
and drink, his rest as well as his labor, to do the will 
of his heavenly Father, in conformity to the example 
of Christ : 

" His care was fixed, 



To fill his odorous lamp with deeds of light, 
And hope that reaps not shame." 

The delight he experienced on hearing that benefit 
resulted from his exertions, proved to him an ample 
recompense for every sacrifice of time, comfort, or 
convenience ; and it was equalled only by the humility 
with w r hich he received such cheering intelligence. 
" I was encouraged " he observes, on receiving a com- 
munication of this nature " and refreshed beyond de- 
scription, and I could only cheerfully and gratefully 
offer up myself to God's service : but it was at the 
same time a check to my pride to reflect, that though 
God might in his sovereignty bless his word by my 
mouth, I was not on that account the less sinful in my 
ministrations." On another occasion, with touching 
simplicity and true lowliness he writes, after meeting 
some of his flock in the way so strongly and ably re- 
commended by the present Bishop of Chester — * £ I 
spoke for twenty minutes on ' Thy will be done on 
earth, as it is in heaven.'— When shall I pour out of a 
full heart these blessed and divine truths which drop 



HENRY MARTY K 65 

from these iips of clay ! An old woman, at the conclu- 
sion, said, ' The Lord Almighty bless you !' This un- 
expected benediction encouraged me much." 

The incalculable value of habits of self-denial seems 
never to have been more deeply impressed upon the 
mind of Mr. Martyn than at this time. " A despicable 
indulgence in lying in bed," he says, "gave me such 
a view of the softness of my character, that I resolved, 
on my knees, to live a life of more self-denial ; the 
tone and vigor of my mind rose rapidly : all those du- 
ties from which I usually shrink, seemed recreations 
I collected all the passages from the four Gospels that 
had any reference to this subject; it is one on which 
I need to preach to myself, and mean to preach to 
others. Whenever I can say, l Thy will be done y 
( teach me to do thy will, O God, for thou art my God ;' 
it is like throwing ballast out of an air-balloon; my 
soul ascends immediately, and light and happiness 
shine around me." Such was his thirst after this Chris- 
tian temper ! such his enjoyment of its blessedness ! 

At the beginning of the present year Mr. Martyn 
was apprehensive, as we have seen, of having bestow- 
ed too much time on public duties, and too little on 
those which are private and personal. He was fully 
persuaded that, in order to take Heed effectually to his 
ministry, he must, in obedience to the apostolic injunc- 
tion, 'take heed 5 primarily ' to himself;' and this, in 
fact, was his settled course and practice. He would 
sometimes set apart seasons for humiliation and 
prayer, and would frequently spend whole evenings 
in devotion. Of the Bible he could ever affirm, 'Thy 
word is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it.' 

Martyn. 5 



06 MEMOIR OF 

" The word of Christ dwelt richly in him in all wis- 
dom." Large portions of it did he commit to memory, 
repeating them during his solitary walks, at those 
times when he was not expressly meditating on some 
scriptural subject, which was his general custom; and 
so deep was his veneration for the word of God, that 
when a suspicion arose in his mind that any other 
book he might be studying was about to gain an un- 
due influence over his affections, he instantly laid it 
aside, nor would he resume it till he had felt and rea- 
lized the paramount excellence of the divine oracles : 
he could not rest satisfied till all those lesser lights 
which were beginning to dazzle him, had disappeared 
before the effulgence of the Scriptures. 

How much he loved secret prayer, and how vigi- 
lantly he engaged in the exercise of it, may be seen 
in the subjoined remarks on that subject : — " I felt the 
need of setting apart a day for the restoration of my 
soul by solemn prayer : my views of eternity are be- 
come dim and transient. I could live for ever in prayer, 
if I could always speak to God. I sought to pause, and 
to consider what I wanted, and to look up with fear 
and faith, and I found the benefit ; for my soul was 
soon composed to that devout sobriety which I knew 
by its sweetness to be its proper frame. I was engaged 
in prayer in the manner I like, deep seriousness ; at the 
end of it, I felt great fear of forgetting the presence of 
God, and of leaving him as soon as I should leave the 
posture of devotion ; I was led through the mists of 
unbelief, and spake to God as one that was true ; and 
rejoiced exceedingly that he was holy and faithful. I 
endeavored to consider mvself as being alone on the 



HENRY MARTY N. 67 

earth with him, and that greatly promoted my ap- 
proach to his presence. My prayer for a meek and 
holy sobriety was granted ! O how sweet the dawn of 
heaven I" 

Nor was Mr. Martyn less diligent and fervent in the 
yet higher branch of Christian worship, thanksgiv- 
ing. " Let me praise God," he would say, " for hav- 
ing turned me from a life of wo to the enjoyment oi 
peace and hope. The work is real. I can no more 
doubt it than I can doubt my existence; the whole 
current of my desires is altered — I am walking quite 
another w r ay, though I am incessantly stumbling in 
that way." " I had a most blessed view of God and 
divine things ; O how great is his excellency ! I find 
my heart pained for want of words to praise him ac- 
cording to his excellent greatness ; I looked forward 
to complete conformity to him, as the great end of my 
existence, and my assurance was full. I said, almost 
with tears, ( Who shall separate us from the love of 
Christ V " 

It has been well observed,* that " we may judge, by 
our regard for the Sabbath, whether eternity will be 
forced upon us." The application of this rule, as it re- 
spects Mr. Martyn, will discover a singular meetness 
in him for the inheritance of the saints in light. His 
Sabbaths were Sabbaths indeed — the antepast, often, 
of that rest which is everlasting. 

Let us hear his own description of his happiness at 
some of those sacred times : — " Before setting out to 
go to Lolworth, I endeavored to cast away all those 
contemptible prejudices and dislikes which I often feel, 

. * Adams's Private Thoughts 



68 MEMOIR OF 

and on the road experienced a sweet sense of the di- 
vine presence, and happy meditation on God and his 
truths. I was thinking of the love of Christ, and of his 
unparalleled humility, and that to him belonged all the 
glory, as having truly merited it. I felt quite devoted 
to God and assured of his love : I did not doubt of 
having been apprehended by Christ, (for the purpose, 
I hope, of preaching his Gospel,) and during the ser- 
vice my heart was full of love and joy." — " At church, 
this morning, my heart was overflowing with love and 
joy : during the sermon, which was an exhortation to 
diligence, a sense of my unprofitableness depressed me ; 
but in my ride to Lolworth I enjoyed sweet delight; 
every breeze seemed to breathe love into my heart ; 
and while I surveyed the landscape, I looked forward 
to the days when all nations should come to the moun- 
tain of the Lord's house." 

By those who forget the history of our Lord's life, it 
might be conceived that one so blameless and harm- 
less as Mr. Martyn, so poor in spirit, and pure in heart, 
would pass on his way unassailed by calumny or un- 
kind ness. But those who draw their anticipations from 
the Scripture, will not "marvel" that he should be 
called to endure unjust insinuations and aspersions, 
when his whole life was devoted to the welfare of his 
fellow-creatures. Yet, " when reviled he reviled not 
again, but committed himself to Him that judgeth 
righteously." — " Is not this sweet, O my soul," be ex- 
claimed under a trial of this kind, " to have a holy God~ 
to appeal to and converse with, though all the world 
should turn their backs ?" And it should be remarked 
here, that his patience under the severe and unme- 



HENRY MARTYN. 69 

rited censures of others was not that which is some- 
times mistaken for it, the indifference of apathy, or the 
superciliousness of contempt; the one was as abhor 
rent to his nature as the other was to the principles o, 
his religion. Censorious tongues were to him as they 
were to David, " spears and arrows and sharp swords :" 
so far from being callous to any attempts to wound his 
character and his peace, he acknowledges that obloquy 
was a trying exercise of his Christian temper, and he 
considered the dispensation as " wholesome," because 
" to be despised by men affected him very deeply." 
"But the name of the Lord is a strong tower — the 
righteous runneth into it, and is safe." — " Conscious," 
said he, " that I did not deserve the censures that were 
cast upon me, I committed myself to God, and in him 
may I abide till the indignation be overpast !" 

Those, however, who maligned and traduced Mr. 
Martyn's character, wounded his spirit far less than 
those who either scoffed at his high and self-denying 
designs of usefulness, or, from worldly motives, dis- 
couraged him from attempting their accomplishment. 
No one could be more ready than he to consider the 
fittest means for compassing the ends he had in view, 
and to weigh beforehand the difficulties attending the 
life of a missionary, however favored by external cir- 
cumstances. But objections of a contemptuous kind, 
or those arguments which founded themselves on an 
ignorance of the very spirit of the Gospel, painfully 
affected his mind. His reflections, after a long dis- 
course with a person who had addressed him with the 
kindest intentions, but with a judgment unenlightened 
by that wisdom which is from above, are worth pre- 



70 MEMOIR Or 

serving : — " All our conversation on the subject of re- 
ligion ended in nothing. He was convinced that he 
was right, and all the texts I produced were, accord- 
ing to him, applicable only to the times of the apostles. 
How am I constrained to adore God's sovereign mer- 
cy ! My soul, dost thou not esteem all things but dung 
and dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ 
Jesus my Lord ? Yea, did not gratitude constrain me — 
did not duty and fear of destruction — yet surely the 
excellency of the service of Christ would constrain 
me to lay down a thousand lives in the prosecution oi 
it." When called to encounter the ridicule of those 
who, not knowing the hope of Christ's calling, nor the 
riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, nor 
the exceeding greatness of his power towards those 
who believe, despised all labors of love amongst the 
heathen as wild and visionary, the Lord helped him 
to keep his ground, and to bear his testimony. " With 
my Bible in my hand, and Christ at my right hand,' 1 
said he, " I can do all things : what though the whole 
world believe not, God abideth true, and my hope in 
him shall be steadfast." 

In the latter part of the spring of this year he had 
the singular satisfaction of being introduced to a per- 
sonal acquaintance with one of a kindred spirit with 
nimself — the late Henry Kirke White. Rare genius, 
and, above all, sterling piety, could not fail of being 
greatly admired and highly prized by Mr. Martyn; he 
consequently took the liveliest interest in behalf of that 
extraordinary young man, and used his utmost en- 
deavors to facilitate his entrance upon that course at 
college, which afterwards proved so brilliant and so 
transient. 



HENRY MARTYN. 7 L 

The duties of a public examiner in St. John's were 
now, in the month of June, for the second time con- 
signed to Mr. Martyn — the subjects for examination 
being, one of them from the Classics, the other, Locke's 
Treatise on the Understanding. To those who embark 
in metaphysical disquisitions, it will serve as a matter 
of caution — and to those who are harassed with dis- 
tressing thoughts, it may administer consolation — to 
recite, in Mr. Martyn's own words, the exquisite men 
tal sufferings he endured, after allowing his mind a 
range of too unlimited a nature in these abstract ques- 
tions. " My soul," he writes, " was filled' with greater 
misery and horror than I ever before experienced. I 
know not how to describe my feelings, or how I got 
into them — but it was after metaphysical inquiries into 
the nature and end of my being, and in what consists 
the happiness of my soul. I was afraid to leave off pray- 
ing, and went to bed earnestly recommending my soul 
to Christ." — " I tremble," said he, on the succeeding 
day, " to enter on these inquiries, lest my beclouded 
reason should lead me to the brink of hell. But I know 
by experience that the spirit of submission, and a sense 
of the authority of God, is the only state in which I 
can ever be happy : and precisely in proportion as I 
depart from that state of things, I am unhappy. And 
so strong is this sentiment, that were it not my hope 
that I should one day wholly submit to God and de- 
scend to my right place, I would not wish to exist ano- 
ther moment. My trust is, that God will, according 
to the riches of his grace in Christ Jesus, enable a poor 
worm, who groans under pride, to advance steadily 
and humbly to his end, and preserve him from those 



72 MEMOIR OP 

dreadful thoughts which almost overwhelm the soul." 
Thus, when in danger of being " spoiled by philoso- 
phy," was his soul " upheld by the free Spirit of a 
faithful God." 

It now appeared to be past a doubt that Mr. Marty n 
would succeed in obtaining a chaplainship in the ser- 
vice of the East India Company, and that in the en- 
suing spring he would be summoned to leave the 
shores of his native country for ever. In July, there- 
fore, he revisited those scenes which were endeared to 
him by numberless early associations, and enlivened 
by the presence of many whom he admired and loved. 
And here it is due to the full illustration of his Chris- 
tian character to mention, that it was not merely the 
ties of family or friendship which bound him to Corn- 
wall ; others there were of a tenderer if not stronger 
kind : for he had conceived a deeply-fixed attachment 
for one, of whom less ought not, and more cannot be 
said, than that she was worthy of him : an attachment 
which — whether he thought, as he afterwards did, 
that it should be encouraged, or as he now did, that, 
from peculiar circumstances, it ought to be repressed 
— equally exhibits him as a man of God, whose affec- 
tions were set upon things above, and not on things on 
the earth. 

As this was the first time he had been in Cornwall 
since his ordination, and the last time he expected ever 
to visit it, he was extremely anxious to testify the 
grace of God in his public ministry, whenever he had 
an opportunity. Such, however, was the prejudice ex- 
cited against his religious principles, that his labors 



HENRY MAHTYiN. 73 

were almost entirely confined to two churches under 
the care of his brother-in-law. There he frequently 
preached, and there both his sisters heard him, the 
youngest with much delight, the eldest with a most 
gratifying appearance of having been seriously im- 
pressed by what fell from his lips. " I found," said he, 
" that she had been deeply affected, and from her con- 
versation I received great satisfaction : in the evening, 
I walked by the water-side till late, having my heart 
full of praise to God for having given me such hopes 
of my sister." 

To the churches where he preached, the common 
people crowded in numbers. At Kenwyn, where he 
addressed them from 2 Cor. 5 : 20, 21, " Now then we 
are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech 
you by us ; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye re- 
conciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for 
us, who knew no sin, that w r e might be made the right- 
eousness of God in him ;" — the church was so full that 
many were compelled to stand on the outside, and 
many obliged to go away. How acceptable he was to 
those who loved and valued the Gospel, may be easily 
conceived; yet such was his vigilance of mind and 
tenderness of conscience, that " their commendations 
occasioned him some pain," inasmuch as " they tend- 
ed to fan the flame of vanity." The Christian, espe- 
cially the Christian minister, has to pass through 
good report and evil report ; and praise is a severer 
test of the strength of his principles than dispiaise. 
Mr. Martyn ever found it so ; and he experienced him- 
self, as well as exemplified to others, the truth of those 
words of wisdom— "as the fining-pot for silver, and 



M MEMOIR OF 

the furnace for gold, so is a man to his praise." Prov. 
27 : 21. 

In the private and more retired duties of his calling 
he was now, as usual, most unremitting in his attention : 
these, in fact, were to him the most delightful parts of 
his vocation. Happier would he have esteemed it, as 
far as his personal feelings were concerned, to kneel, 
as he did frequently with his youngest sister, beside 
the beds of the sick and dying, than to have had the 
largest churches in his native country thronged with 
multitudes attentive to hear him: he was of the spirit 
af that Redeemer, who sought to be hid whilst he went 
about doing good. 

His habits of reading and prayer, and particularly 
those of divine meditation, were in no degree relaxed 
during his visit, and the less so, because he acknow- 
ledged that " he felt an increased difficulty of living in 
communion with God, where so many remembered 
him in a different character." The solitude of the spot 
where he resided was happily fitted for contemplation : 
"The scene," he wrote, in a letter to a friend from 
Lamorran, " is such as is frequently to be met with in 
this part of Cornwall. Below the house is an arm of 
the sea, flowing between the hills, which are covered 
with wood. By the side of this water I walk in gene- 
ral in the evening, out of the reach of all sound but the 
rippling of the waves and the whistling of the curlew." 
In these pensive and solitary walks, the great sacri- 
fices he was about to make could not but force them- 
selves frequently upon his mind, and raise the silent 
and involuntary sigh : but we may be well assured, 
that " in the multitude of the thoughts which he had in 
his heart, God's comforts refreshed his soul." 



HENRY MARTYN. 75 

At length, after having withstood in Cornwall, as 
well as at Cambridge, the arguments of those who " at 
all events would have detained him in England," — 
arguments of which he confesses that " some were not 
without weight," — he prepared to leave that part of 
his native country which was peculiarly dear to his 
feeling and affectionate heart. 

The separations of Christians from each other, in 
this world of mutability, afflictive as they ever must 
be, have their peculiar alleviations : they know that 
Christ "fills all things," — and they have the blissful 
expectation of an endless re-union in that world of 
glory whither they are hastening. 

Mr. Marty n, with respect to several from whom he 
was now to part, could fully indulge in these animated 
anticipations : but he could not as it respected all. 
The following is a mournful record of a final inter- 
view, overclouded by the gloom of an almost hopeless 

sorrow. " M rode with me part of the way, but 

kept the conversation on general subjects. If I brought 
him by force to religion, he spoke with the most as- 
tonishing apathy on the subject. His cold, deliberate 
superiority to every thing but argument, convinced 
me not merely that he was not only fully convinced, 
as he said, but that he was rooted in infidelity. No- 
thing remained for me but to pray for him. Though 
he parted from me probably to see me no more, he 
said nothing that could betray the existence of any 
passions in him. O cursed infidelity, that freezes the 
heart's blood here, as well as destroys the soul here- 
after! I could only adore the sovereign grace of God, 
which distinguished me from him, though every thing 



76 MEMOIR OF 

was alike in us. We have been intimate from our in- 
fancy, and have had the same plans and pursuits, and 
nearly the same condition : but the one is taken and 
the other is left. I, through mercy, find my only joy 
and delight in the knowledge of Christ ; and he in de- 
nying the truth of religion altogether." 

By another farewell which he has also depicted, he 
could not but be otherwise than very deeply affected : 
but the sorrow was of a character very dissimilar to 

the last. " Rode before E , with L , to an old 

man five miles off. Our conversation was such as be- 
cometh saints, but it was too pleasant for me. I sighed 
at the thought of losing their company. When we ar- 
rived, the old man was out, but his sister, a blind wo- 
man of seventy, was confined to her bed, without any 

comfortable hope. L and myself said every thing 

we could to cheer her, and then I prayed. When the 
old man arrived, we formed a little circle before the 
door, under the trees, and he conversed with his young 
hearers concerning the things of God. I then read 
Psalm 84. Our ride home was delightful, our hearts 
being all devoutly disposed; only mine was unhappy. 

Parted with L for ever in this life, with a sort of 

uncertain pain which I knew would increase to greater 
violence." 

These forebodings were but too soon realized. On 
the evening of that day, and for many succeeding 
days, his mental agony was extreme ; yet he could, 
speak to God, as one who knew the great conflict 
within him; he was convinced, that as God willed his 
happiness, he was providing for it eventually by that 
bitter separation : he resolved, through grace, to be his 



. HENRY MARTYN. 77 

though it should be through much trioulation : he ex- 
perienced sweetly and solemnly the excellence of serv- 
J ng him faithfully, and of following Christ and his 
Apostles: he meditated with great joy on the end of 
this world, and enjoyed the thought of walking,. as he 
now does, with her from whom he was then removed, 
in the realms of glory. 

But Mr. Marty n had not filled up the measure of his 
sufferings, having not yet bid adieu to his sisters. 
With the eldest he spent one melancholy evening in 
exhorting her for the last time, and endeavoring to 
comfort her ; and on the succeeding day he took leave 
of the youngest : " they parted as if to meet no more," 
and, overwhelmed with inexpressible grief, could find 
no consolation but in mutually commending each 
other to the grace of God in prayer. 

Thus turning his back, like Abraham of old, on his 
kindred and his country, and looking for that city 
which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is 
God, Mr. Martyn departed from Cornwall. 

At Plymouth, whither he proceeded, he passed a 
Sabbath in a heavenly serenity of spirit, and in the full 
exercise of that faith which is " the substance of things 
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." There he 
preached twice, on Dan. 5 : 22, 23 : " And thou his 
son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thy heart, though 
mou knewest all this; but hast lifted up thyself against 
the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the ves- 
sels of his house before thee, and thou and thy lords, 
thy wives and thy concubines, have drank wine in 
them ; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and 
gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not? 



78 memoir or 

nor hear, nor know : and the God in whose hand thy 
breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not 
glorified :" and on Rev. 22 : 17 ; " And the Spirit and 
the bride say, Come : And let him that heareth say, 
Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whoso- 
ever will, let him take the water of life freely." — " His 
soul longed," he said, " for the eternal world, and he 
could see nothing on earth for which he would wish 
to live another hour.^' At this place an incident oc- 
curred indicative as well of his extraordinary humili- 
ty, as of that extreme temerity of judgment, in which 
those who make a loud, though, in the main, a genu- 
ine profession of religion, are too apt to indulge. Hav- 
ing expounded the Scriptures, and prayed with many 
who assembled to listen to his parting words, he dis- 
covered that there were some present who ventured 
to express a doubt 'of the reality of his religion. One 
person in particular openly avowed his apprehensions 
concerning him ; so that his heart was wounded : yet, 
observed this meek and lowly man of God, " I was 
thankful to God for admonishing me, and my grati- 
tude to the man was, I think, unfeigned." Such was 
his recorded comment at the time: and it is noted af- 
terwards in his journal, that this very person was es- 
pecially remembered by him in his prayers. 

From Plymouth, where his sorrow was painfu]]y 
renewed, by being separated from a family nearly re- 
lated and greatly endeared to him, he proceeded to 
London; during which journey he sought, according, 
to his settled custom, to render his conversation pro- 
fitable to his fellow-travelers : and in one instance on 
this occasion, his attempts were not, it may be hoped. 



HE.NRV MARTYN. 79 

unattended with success. He had for his companion a 
young French officer on his parole ; a Protestant, who 
had been accustomed, he found, to attend to morning 
and evening prayer, and to read his Bible, which he 
had unfortunately lost when he was taken prisoner. 
But his views of the Gospel appearing to Mr. Marty n 
very defective, he explained to him " his state by na- 
ture ; his condemnation by the law ; the necessity of 
•regeneration, and of free salvation by Christ ; and the 
promise of the Spirit." The young man paid much 
attention to these admonitions, and expressed great 
affection for his adviser ; who afterwards presented 
him with a French Testament, and corresponded with 
him on those important topics which he had set before 
him. 

Change of place and circumstances did not prevent 
Mr. Martyn from communion with that Lord and Sa- 
vior, who is every where, and who was with him 
whithersoever he went. On this journey, when leav- 
ing Bath early in the morning, " he found his soul as- 
cending to God with divine sweetness. Nothing seem- 
ed desirable but to glorify Him : all creatures were as 
nothing. Towards the evening, as they drew near 
London, he was delightfully engaged in meditation on 
the latter part of the second chapter of the Epistle to 
the Ephesians, " contemplating the building as it was 
rising, and as it would be when finished." — " O the 
transcendent glory," said he, " of this temple of souls 
lively stones, perfect in all its parts, the purchase and 
the work of God." 

On the 18th of September we find Mr. Martyn again 



80 MEMOJK OF 

quietly settled at Cambridge ; from whence his young- 
est sister received a letter from him, of which the fol- 
lowing is an extract; and so excellent, surely, is the 
spirit which pervades it, that tears of thankfulness for 
possessing such a brother, must have mingled them- 
selves with those which she could not but shed abun- 
dantly on account of his departure. 

" We should consider it as a sign for good, my dear- 
est S , when the Lord reveals to us the almost des- 
perate corruption of our hearts. For, if he causes us 
to groan under it, as an insupportable burden, he will, 
we may hope, in his own time, give us deliverance. 
The pride which I see dwelling in my own heart, pro- 
ducing there the most obstinate hardness, I can truly 
say my soul abhors. I see it to be unreasonable, I feel 
it to be tormenting. When I sometimes offer up sup- 
plications, with strong crying to God, to bring down 
my spirit into the dust, I endeavor calmly to contem- 
plate the infinite majesty of the most high God, and 
my own meanness and wickedness. Or else I quietly 
tell the Lord, who knows the heart, that I would give 
him all the glory of every thing if I could. But the 
most effectual way I have ever found, is to lead away 
my thoughts from myself and my own concerns, by 
praying for all my friends ; for the church, the world, 
the nation ; and, especially, by beseeching that God 
would glorify his own great name, by converting all 
nations to the obedience of faith ; also by praying that 
he would put more abundant honor on those Chris- 
tians whom he seems to have honored especially, and 
whom we see to be manifestly our superiors. This is 
at least a positive act of humility, and it is certain that 



HENRY MARTYN. 81 

not only will a good principle produce a good act, but 
the act will increase the principle. But even after do- 
ing all this, there will often arise a certain self-com- 
placency which has need to be checked ; and in con- 
versation with Christian friends, we should be careful, 
I think, how self is introduced. Unless we think that 
good will be done, self should be kept in the back 
ground and mortified. We are bound to be servants 
of all, ministering to their pleasure as far as will be to 
their profit. We are to " look not at our own things, 

but at the things of others." Be assured, my dear S , 

that, night and day making mention of you in my 
prayers, I desire of God to give you to see the depth 
of pride and iniquity in your heart, yet not to be dis- 
couraged at the sight of it ; that you may perceive 
yourself deserving to be cast out with abhorrence from 
God's presence, and then may walk in continual po- 
verty of spirit and the simplicity of a little child. Pray, 
too, that I may know something of humility. Blessed 
grace ! how it smooths the furrows of care, and gilds 
the dark paths of life ! It will make us kind, tender- 
hearted, affable, and enable us to do more for God and 
the Gospel than the most fervent zeal without it. 

" I am here without a companion ; at first the change 
from the agreeable society in Cornwall, as also from 
that which I enjoyed at Plymouth, was very irksome; 
but it is good for me !" 

His journal at this period contains many observa- 
tions accordant with the last sentence in this letter: 
his mind naturally often recurred with fond and 
mournful recollections to Cornwall. But he endea- 

Martyu. g 



82 MEMOIR OF 

vored to check such thoughts, as savoring " too much of 
earthliness and discontent !" — knowing that "he ought 
to be happy wherever God had placed him ;" and " be- 
ing sure that the exchange he was soon to make, oi 
college for a stormy ocean and the burning plains of 
India, would not be very pleasant to the flesh." 

The happiness Mr. Martyn enjoyed in prosecuting 
his ministerial vocation, received at this time a won- 
derful increase; whilst suffering' the will of God with 
the meek resignation of faith, he was enabled to do it 
with all the delightful fervency of love. " Blessed be 
God," he found reason to say, with exceeding joy and 
gratitude, " I feel myself to be his minister. This 
thought, which I can hardly describe, came in the 
morning, after reading Brainerd. I wish for no ser 
vice but the service of God ; to labor for souls on 
earth, to do his will in heaven." As far as the exter- 
nal duties of his office were concerned, only this vari 
ation occurred ; he became extremely diligent in the 
humble, but most important work of catechising chil- 
dren ; giving sometimes a great part of his evenings 
to the task, and leaving the society he most valued for 
the sake of it. He determined likewise upon preach- 
ing more frequently extempore, (for he had already at 
times adopted the practice,) partly from thinking it 
upon the whole more profitable to himself as well a? 
to the congregation, and partly from the desire of de- 
voting the time spent in writing sermons to other pur- 
poses. He by no means, however, renounced these 
compositions. On the contrary, he enjoined it upon 
himself as a rule, never to pass a week without writing 
a sermon. 



HENRY MARTY N- 83 

In visiting his flock, and thus " preaching from house 
to house," Mr. Martyn's perseverance kept pace with 
the heightened pleasure and satisfaction he expe 
rienced in his divine calling : happy, however, as he 
was in this work of labor and love, the sympathies oi 
his heart were painfully and powerfully called forth 
by many a scene of extreme misery, and his holy sen 
sibilities were yet more acutely excited by the vice 
and profligacy he perpetually witnessed. The follow- 
ing are some of several scenes of wretchedness with 
which he was conversant : — " In prayer I found my 
soul composed to a blessed and serious view of eter- 
nity. Visited the hospital, and read the 11th chapter 
of John there, with a poor man, in whose room at the 
workhouse I was struck with the misery that present- 
ed itself. He was lying, in his clothes and hat, upon 
the bed, dying ; his wife was cleaning the room as if 
nothing was the matter; and on the threshold was the 
daughter, about thirty years old, who had been deli- 
rious thirteen years. Her mother said, that the poor 
creature sometimes talked of religion : so I asked her 
several times, before I could arrest her attention, who 
came into the world to save sinners? After several 
wild looks, she hastily answered, ' Christ,' and then 
talked on as before. The dying man was almost in- 
sensible to any thing I could say. He had formerly 
been a respectable innkeeper in the town; but the ex- 
travagance of a son brought him to poverty, and his 
daughter, who foresaw it, to insanity." — "In the af 
ternoon I enjoyed solemn thoughts in prayer, ana 
visited several people ; amongst them one poor peni- 
tent, with whom I had prayed the day before. The 



84 MEMOIR OF 

desires she expressed amidst her tears were, that God 
would change her heart, and forgive her, and take 
her to his mercy. If it was his will, she wished to 
leave this world. But what if she should live? I 
asked her. She said she could not say she should not 
sin, as she was constantly liable ; but rather than re- 
turn to her former ways, she would be cut in pieces. 
I was much affected with pity, and preached the Gos- 
pel of peace with great delight to her." At another 
time, when a friend had given him a lamentable ac- 
count of the gross misconduct of a woman who had 
made a profession of religion, " the consideration," he 
remarked, "quite swallowed up my other thoughts, 
and brought me to a tender grief and godly sorrow. 
I went to church, ruminating on it, and could almost 
say, ' Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because 
men keep not thy law.' O that I could'feel more sen 
sibly the dishonor done to God, and to his Christ, and 
to his Gospel ; and the ruin she is bringing on her 
own soul." And on hearing, the same day, of the 
death of one whom he had remembered in innocence, 
and in the bloom of health and beauty, and who died 
after a very short career of vice, the account was too 
much for him. " My heart," said he, " was ready to 
burst. When I thought of the man who had seduced 
her, and then of many in the University who had be- 
haved with extraordinary effrontery at church, my 
soul groaned within me. O my God, it is enough ; 
hasten, O hasten the day when I shall leave the worlcT 
to come to thee ; when 1 shall no more be vexed, and 
astonished, and pained, at the universal wickedness of 
this lost earth. But here would I abide my time ; and 



HENRY MARTYN. 85 

spend and be spent for the salvation of any poor soul ; 
and lie down at the feet of sinners, and beseech them 
not to plunge into an eternity of torment." 
How "honorable" and what delight the Sabbath was 
to Mr. Martyn, we have already seen; it might be 
called with him " a kind of transfiguration-day, when 
his garments shone with peculiar lustre." Can it be 
deemed irrelevant, then, to advert again to the state of 
his mind, as delineated by himself, during some of 
those sacred seasons at this period? 

Sept. 30. — " My mind, this morning, easily ascended 
to God, in peaceful solemnity. I succeeded in finding 
access to God, and being alone with him. Could I but 
enjoy this life of faith more steadily, how much should 
I ' grow in grace, 5 and be renewed in the spirit of my 
mind ! At such seasons of fellowship with the Father 
and his Son Jesus Christ, when the world, and self, and 
eternity, are nearly in their right places, not only are 
my views of duty clear and comprehensive, but the 
proper motives have a more constraining influence." 

Oct. 28. — ■" This has been in general a happy day. 
in the morning, through grace, I was enabled by 
grayer to maintain a calm recollection of myself — 
and what was better, of the presence of my dear Re- 
deemer. From the church I walked to our garden, 
where I was above an hour, I trust, with Christ, speak- 
ing to him chiefly of my future life in his service. I 
determined on entire devotedness, though with trem- 
bling; for the flesh dreads crucifixion. But should I 
fear pain, when Christ was so agonized for me? No, 
— come what will, I am determined, through God, to 
he a fellow-worker with Christ. I recollected, with 



DO , MEMOIR OF 

comfort, that I was speaking to the great Creator, who 
can make such a poor weak worm as myself ' more 
than conqueror. At church I found, by the attention 
cf the people, that the fervor of my spirit yesterday 
had been conveyed into my sermon. I came to my 
rooms rejoicing to be alone again, and to hold commu- 
nion with God." 

Dec. 9. — "This has been in general a sweet and 
blessed day — a foretaste of my eternal Sabbath. 
Preached on the third commandment : in the after- 
noon on the tenth. Rode back to Cambridge, feeling 
quite willing to go any where or suffer any thing for 
God. Preached in Trinity church, on Ezek. 33:11. 
1 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have 
no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the 
wicked turn from his way and live : turn ye, turn ye 
from your evil ways ; for why will ye die, O house of 
Israel V It was pleasant to me to think of being alone 
again with God." 

The year 1804 closed with Mr. Martyn's being a 
third time selected as one of the examiners in St. 
John's. In fulfilling which office, he speaks of his 
" soul drawing near to God whilst in the hall; and of 
a sacred impression being upon his mind during the 
examination." " Several of the poetical images in 
Virgil," in which he had been examining, "especially 
thqse taken from nature, together with the sight of the 
moon rising over the venerable wall, and sending its 
light through the painted glass, turned away his 
thoughts from present things, and raised them to God. 
His soul was stirred up to renewed resolutions to live 
a life of entire independence of earthly comforts, 
though he felt that the flesh was very weak." 



HENRY MARTYN. 87 

The last day of the year found him "rejoicing at 
the lapse of time, but sorrowing at its unprofitable- 
ness." — " So closes," he remarks, " the easy part of my 
life ; enriched by every earthly comfort, and caressed 
by friends, I may scarcely be said to have experienced 
trouble ; but now, farewell ease, if I might presume to 
conjecture. O Lord, into thy hands I commit my 
spirit ! Thou hast redeemed me, thou God of truth ! 
may I be saved by thy grace, and be sanctified to do 
thy will now, and to all eternity, through Jesus 
Christ." His reflections on the following day, the first 
of that year which was his last in England, carry with 
them a peculiar interest, as well from their intrinsic 
excellence, as from the circumstances under which 
they were indited. 

Jan. 1, 1805. — " Hitherto hath the Lord helped me. 
It is now about five years since God stopped me in the 
career of worldliness, and turned me from the paths 
of sin — three years and a half since I turned to the 
Lord with all my heart — and a little more than two 
years since he enabled me to devote myself to his ser- 
vice as a missionary. My progress of late has become 
slower than it had been; yet I can truly say, that in 
the course of this time, every successive year, every 
successive week has been happier than the former. 
From many dangerous snares hath the Lord preserved 
me : in spite of all my inward rebellion, he hath car- 
ried on his work in my heart; and in spite of all my 
unbelieving fears, he hath given me a hope full of 
immortality; 'he hath set my foot on a rock, and 
established my goings, and hath put a new song in 
my mouth, even praises to my God.' It is the begin- 



88 MEMOIR OF 

ning of a critical year to me • yet I feel little appre- 
hension. The same grace and long-suffering, the same 
wisdom and power, that have brought me so far, will 
bring me on, though it be through fire and water, to 
a goodly heritage. I see no business in life but the 
work of Christ, neither do I desire any employment 
to all eternity but his service. I am a sinner saved by 
grace. Every day's experience convinces me of this 
truth. My daily sins and constant corruption leave me 
no hope but that which is founded on God's mercy in 
Christ. His Spirit, I trust, is imparted, and is renew- 
ing my nature; as I desire much, though I have at- 
tained but little. Now to God, the Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost, would I solemnly renew my self-dedica- 
tion, to be his servant for ever." 

Towards the end of January, a sudden summons to 
leave England in ten days caused some perturbation 
in Mr. Martyn's spirits. Short, however, as the notice 
was, he would instantly have complied with it, had he 
received ordination ; but this he could not receive till 
the 18th of February, when he completed his twenty 
fourth year. 

The solemn and impressive rite of admission to the 
functions and privileges of a presbyter of the church 
of England was administered to him at St. James's 
Chapel, London, in the month of March : after which 
he received the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, con- 
ferred upon him by mandate from the university; 
when nothing remained to detain him any longer at 
Cambridge. 

At the thoughts of his departure, he confesses that 
the flesh betrayed its weakness, but he did not regret 



HENRY MARTYN. 89 

having resigned the world ; life, he knew, was but a 
short journey — a little day ; and then, if faithful unto 
death, his gracious reward would begin. Happily for 
him, such was the divine goodness and mercy, that he 
was, at this moment, more than ever persuaded of his 
being truly called of God to preach the Gospel to the 
heathen. " I rejoice to say" he wrote to his youngest 
sister "that I never had so clear a conviction of my 
call as at present — as far as respects the inward im- 
pression. Never did I see so much the exceeding ex- 
cellency, and glory, and sweetness of the work ; nor 
have so much the favorable testimony of my own con- 
science, nor perceive so plainly the smile of God. I am 
constrained to say — What am I, or what is my father's 
house, that I should be made willing — what am I, that 
I should be so happy, so honored ?" In his journal 
likewise, he expresses himself to the same effect : " I 
felt more persuaded of my call than ever ; there was 
scarcely the shadow of a doubt left. Rejoice, O my 
soul — thou shalt be the servant of God in this life, and 
in the next, for all the boundless ages of eternity." 

A remarkable spirit of supplication likewise was in 
this hour of need poured out upon him ; and the sure 
word of prophecy, predicting the glory of the latter 
times, was as the dawning of the day and the rising of 
the day-star in his heart. " I could not," he remarks. 
" help reflecting on the almost supernatural fervor a^id 
deep devotion which came upon me, whilst I declared 
that I had rightfully no other business each day but to 
do God's work as a servant, constantly regarding his 
pleasure." — " My thoughts were full of what God 
would do for his own glory, in the conversion of mill- 



SO MEMOIR OF 

titudes to himself in the latter day. I did not wish to 
think about myself in any respect, but found it a pre- 
cious privilege to stand by, a silent admirer of God's 
doings." 

To be removed for ever from many dear friends, and 
from a congregation who " esteemed him very highly 
in love for his work's sake," would have greatly af- 
flicted one of far less affection than that which anima- 
ted the breast of Mr. Martyn. As for him, his sufferings 
on this occasion were most severe. Those of his flock, 
likewise, were no less so : they would willingly have 
renewed the touching scene once beheld at Miletus ? 
" sorrowing as they did for the words that he spake, 
that, they should see his face no more." One old man — 
to adduce no other instance of their undissembled re- 
gard and poignant regret — could not refrain from com- 
ing to him, that he might commend him solemnly to 
God in prayer. And when he delivered his farewell 
discourse in Trinity Church, on these words, 2 Sam. 
7 : 27, 29, " For thou, O Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, 
hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee 
an house ; therefore hath thy servant found in his heart 
to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, O Lord God, 
thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou 
hast promised this goodness unto thy servant : there- 
fore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy ser- 
vant, that it may continue for ever before thee : for 
thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it : and with thy bless- 
ing let the house of thy servant be blessed for ever*/ r 
the whole assembly was dissolved in grief: thus testi- 
fying, by their tears, that their attachment to him was 
equalled only by their admiration of his character 



HENRY MARTYN. 91 

On the third oi April, the day after he had preached 
his valedictory sermon, Mr. Martyn quitted for ever 
the place which had been " the dear abode of his 
youth," — in which he had obtained no moderate por- 
tion of honor and reputation — and in which, had he 
deemed it right to remain, he might have acquired that 
ample share of emolument which talents such as his 
never fail to secure. At such a moment he would have 
been glad to have been left to uninterrupted medita- 
tion; but many young students happened to accom- 
pany him on his journey, and he thought it his duty 
to enter into religious conversation with them for their 
benefit. " At intervals, however," said he, " I medi- 
tated and prayed — the coldness and ingratitude of my 
wicked heart made me loathsome to myself; and I 
longed but for one thing, which was, to be delivered 
from all my iniquity." 

The day after his arrival in London, other natural 
feelings were called into exercise ; feelings which it is 
the design of the Gospel to moderate, but not to sup- 
press. Some hymns, sung in the evening worship of 
the family into which he was most hospitably received, 
recalling Cambridge to his remembrance, affected him 
even to tears ; and as he dwelt with melancholy plea- 
sure on its past delights, all his dear Christian friends 
in it seemed doubly interesting. 

During the two months Mr. Martyn was resident in 
London, he considered that he could not better employ 
his time than by devoting it to the attainment of the 
Hindostanee language; and having the advantage of 
being assisted by a gentleman eminently competent to 
direct him, (Mr. Gilchrist,) he was incessant in his en- 



Q2 MEMOIR OP 

tieavcrs to obtain that necessary qualification for an 
Indian missionary. In order, also, that lie might cor- 
rect some defects in his speech, he at the same time 
deemed it incumbent on him to attend several lectures 
on pronunciation : for nothing did he disdain, which, 
tending to make his ministry more acceptable, might 
conduce to the glory of God. In the delivery of the 
great message committed to him as an ambassador of 
Christ, he was at this time by no means remiss. During 
the short period of his abode in London he often 
preached, occupying the pulpit, principally, at St. 
John's Chapel, Bedford Row, then under the care of 
the late Rev. Richard Cecil ; from whose holy example 
and faithful advice Mr. Martyn conceived himself to 
have derived the most substantial and lasting benefit. 
Nor was he without another high gratification and pri- 
vilege, that of being introduced to the aged and vene- 
rable Mr. Newton, who, expecting soon to be w gathered 
to his people," rejoiced to give this young minister, 
about to proceed on his sublime embassy of love, his 
paternal counsel and benediction. 

An intercourse with such men as Mr. Newton and 
Mr. Cecil was more than a compensation to Mr. Mar- 
tyn for his detention in London, and for the uneasiness 
of that period of uncertainty and delay, which is al- 
most as oppressive to the spirit as the moment of actual 
departure. But if he received unmingled satisfaction 
and abiding profit from the conversation he enjoyed 
with those eminent Christians, there were others with 
whom he conferred, who, " seeming to be somewhat 
in conference, added nothing to him," but, on the con- 
trary, occasioned him no small measure of disquietude. 



HENRY MARTYN. 93 

Once, indeed, these very persons were in the habit of 
manifesting great cordiality towards him : but now 
they began to slight him, and in his presence were 
continually raising disparaging comparisons between 
him and certain preachers, whose theological senti- 
ments, if not erroneous, were at least far too exclusive ; 
and whose strain of doctrine, in Mr. Martyn's judg- 
ment, was more calculated to produce ill-grounded 
confidence, than righteousness and true holiness. In- 
terviews of this kind he endured rather than enjoyed . 
they are to be ranked amongst his trials, and not placed 
on the side of his comforts. 

The subject of his union, likewise, with that excel 
lent person (since consigned to her grave) on whom 
his affections were so unalterably fixed, became at this 
time a matter of consideration and discussion amongst 
some of his more intimate friends: and their diference 
of opinion respecting the propriety of the measure, 
should it ever be practicable, caused no small tumult 
and anguish in his heart. 

On the other hand, there w r ere two events, the pros- 
pect of which was of the most cheering complexion ; 
— the one, the satisfactory marriage of his youngest 
sister — the other, a hope of being soon followed to 
India by two of his friends, who, strengthened, if not 
excited, by his example, declared their willingness to 
go forth and labor with him in that distant vineyard. 

But as it may administer much profitable as well as 
encouraging matter for reflection to those who may 
hereafter tread in the footsteps of Mr. Martyn, his 
journal shall speak for him at some length during the 
interval between his quitting Cambridge and preparing 
to sail from England. 



94 MEMOIR OF 

April 10.—" Walked out to buy books, and strove 
to be diligent in thinking of my subject. When I got 
into the spirit of it, Christ appeared at times inex- 
pressibly precious to me." 

April 14. — Sunday. I felt very unconcerned about 
men's opinions, both before and after sermon. Before 
it, I could solemnly appeal to God, and found comfort 
and pleasure in doing so — that I desired his glory 
alone — that I detested the thought of seeking my own 
praise, or taking pleasure in hearing it. The rest of 
the evening I continued in a very ardent frame ; but, 
in private, I was taught by former experience to labor 
after a calm and sober devotedness to God, and that 
my fervor might show itself in a steady course of ac- 
tion. My soul felt growing in holiness nigh unto the 
blessed God, with my understanding, will, and affec- 
tions turned towards him. Surely many of the chil- 
dren of God have been praying for me to-day. May 
the Lord return their prayers tenfold into their own 
bosoms." 

April 15. — " O may God confirm my feeble resolu- 
tions ! What have I to do but to labor, and pray, and 
fast, and watch, for the salvation of my own soul, and 
those of the heathen world? Ten thousand times more 
than ever do I feel devoted to that precious work, O, 
gladly shall this base blood be shed, every drop of it, 
if India can be benefited in one of her children — if 
but one of those children of God Almighty might be 
brought home to his duty." 

April 16. — " How careful should I and all be, in our 
ministry, not to break the bruised reed ! Alas ! do I 
think that a schoolboy, a raw academic, should be 



HENRY MARTYN. 95 

likely to lead the hearts of men? What a knowledge 
of men, and acquaintance with the Scriptures — wbat 
communion with God, and study of my own heai th- 
ought to prepare me for the awful work of a messen 
ger from God on the business of the soul 1" 

April 22. — "I do not wish for any heaven upox> 
earth besides that of preaching the precious Gospel of 
Jesus Christ to immortal souls. May these weak de- 
sires increase and strengthen with every difficulty." 

April 27. — "My constant unprofitableness seemed 
to bar my approach to God. But I considered that for 
all that was past the blood of Christ would atone ; 
and that for the future, God would that moment give 
me grace to perform my duty. 55 

May 7. — " Went in the evening to hear . He 

was on the same subject as usual, but without variety. 
I confess I was dissatisfied ; not only because I could 
fix on nothing that could edify me, but because I could 
not but think that there was nothing to offend or de- 
tect carnal professors. 55 

May 9. — " O my soul, when wilt thou live consis- 
tently ? When shall I walk steadily with God ? When 
shall I hold heaven constantly in view? How time 
glides away — how is death approaching — how soon 
must I give up my account—how are souls perishing, 
— how does their blood call out to us to labor, and 
watch, and pray for them that remain !' 5 

May 16. — " I went down with Captain M — — to 
Deptford: passing through an inn which was close to 
the water-side, I came at once, to my great surprise^ 
close to the Indiaman before I was aware of it. The 
sudden sight of the water and of the ship affected me 



96 MEMOIR OF 

almost to tears. My emotions were mixed — partly of 
joy, and partly of trembling apprehensions of my be- 
ing now so soon to go away." 

May IS.— -" Happening to look over some of my 
farewell sermons at Cambridge, I was affected to 
tears." 

May 22. — " Heard Mr. Crowther preach. At first I 
could not enter into those humiliating views which I 
knew I ought to have; but by stirring up myself to 
attend, and to mix faith with what he said, and by 
turning every sentence into a petition, I got great good 
in my soul." 

May 24. — "I felt, more than I ever had done, 
the shame attending poverty; nothing but the remem- 
brance that I was not to blame supported me : what- 
ever comes to me in the way of providence, is and 

must be for my good. Dined at , where I could 

plainly see I was scarcely a welcome guest : the ne- 
glect of me was too plain to be unnoticed. The weak- 
ness of my human nature would have expressed itself, 
had I not looked up to God, and prayed for a sight of 
my desert of the scorn of men. The conversation 
amongst these high professors was of course about 

. One said to me, • his sermons are not fine and 

eloquent, but spiritual ;' — alluding to the first of mine 
which he had heard." 

May 30. — "Read Brainerd. I feel my heart knit to 
this dear man, and really rejoice to think of meeting 
him in heaven." 

June 1.— " Memory has been at work to unnerve 
my soul : but reason and honor, and love to Christ 
and souls shall prevail. Amen. God help me." 



HSNRY MARTY N. 97 

June 2. — Whitsunday. "My dear Redeemer is a 
fountain of life to my soul. "With resignation and 
peace can I look forward to a life of labor and entire 
seclusion from earthly comforts, while Jesus thus 
stands near me, changing me into his own image." 

June 6. — " God's interference in supporting me con- 
tinually, appears to me like a miracle." 

June 7. — '' I have not felt such heart-rending pain 

since I parted with L in Cornwall. But the Lord 

brought me to consider the folly and wickedness of 
all this. I could not help saying, — Go Hindoos — go 
on in your misery — let Satan still reign over you ; 
for he that was appointed to labor among you, is con- 
sulting his ease. No, thought I ; earth and hell shall 
never keep me back from my work. I am cast down, 
but not destroyed. I began to consider why I was so 
uneasy — c Cast thy care upon him, for he careth for 
you.' 'In every thing, by prayer and supplication, 
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known 
to God:' — these promises were sweetly fulfilled, be- 
fore long, to me." 

June 8. — " My heart was sometimes ready to break 
with agony. At other times, I was visited by a few 
moments of sublime and enraptured joy. Such is 
the conflict. -Why have my friends mentioned this 
subject? It has torn open old wounds, and I am 
again bleeding." 

June 13. — " Had I a more tender sense of mercy, I 
should have delighted to w r rite on the subject I had 
chosen. Yet it is very sweet to be desiring such a 
state. I would wish, like Mary, to lie weeping at the 
feet of Jesus." 

Martyn. 7 



98 MEMOIR OF 

June 15. — "Shed tears to-night at the thoughts of 
my departure. I thought of the roaring seas, which 
would soon be rolling between me and all that is dear 
to me upon earth." 

June 23.— " The grief of the Miss C s, at the de- 
parture of their brother for India, called forth some of 
my natural feelings. Had I been going from necessi- 
ty, it would almost break my heart. But I go, from 
choice, into a part of the vineyard where my dearest 
friend will be present. On the subject of the mission, 
I seemed assisted to unfold my heart unto the Lord, 
and to pray for his mighty protection in the fiery trial 
which is about to try me." 

June 25. — " I heard something about Swartz to-day, 
which struck me much — his simple mode of living." 

June 28. — " Was much struck and affected with the 
words of a Hottentot woman, quoted in Mr. Biddulph's 
sermon. Kow happy and honored am I, in being suf- 
fered to be a missionary 1" 

July 4. — " Mr. Cecil showed me a letter in Swartz's 
own hand-writing.* Its contents were of a very ex- 
perimental nature— applicable to my case. The life 
of faith in Jesus is what I want. My soul might al- 
most burst with astonishment at its own wickedness ! 
but. at the same time, trusting to mercy, rise and go, 
and try to make 'men happy. The Lord go with me ! 

*It is in vain to wish that very large extracts from Mr. 
Swartz' s Correspondence with the Society for promoting 
Christian Knowledge were published : much of which would 
doubtless be " applicable to the case" of Christians in general, 
and of Ministers and Missionaries in particular. It is said 
that the whole is either lost or burnt. 



HENRY MARTYN. 99 

Let my right hand forget her cunning, if I remember 
not Jerusalem above my chief joy." 

After delivering a sermon to the congregation at Su 
John's, upon Acts, 20 : 82 ; " And now, brethren, I 
commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, 
which is able to build you up, and to give you an in- 
heritance among all them that are sanctified," on the 
8th of July Mr. Martyn left London for Portsmouth : 
and such was the acuteness of his feelings during this 
journey, that he fainted and fell into a convulsion-fit 
at the inn at which he slept on the road ; a painful in- 
timation to those friends who were witli him, of the 
poignancy of that grief which he endeavored as much 
as possible to repress and conceal. The next morning, 
however, he was sufficiently recovered to proceed, and 
was much refreshed in his spirit at the sigiit of many 
of his brethren at Portsmouth, who had come (several 
from a considerable distance) that they might affec- 
tionately accompany him to the ship. Among these 
was one whose presence afforded him an unexpected 
happiness. " To be obliged to give up all hopes of 
your accompanying me to Portsmouth," he had writ- 
ten a short time before to Mr. Simeon, " is a greater 
disappointment than I can well describe. Having been 
led to expect it, I seem to experience a painful priva- 
tion. However, you will not now have the pain of ob- 
serving in your brother a conversation and spirit un- 
suitable to the important work on which he is going. 
Yet this I believe, that though I have little affection 
towards heavenly things, I have less towards every 
thing earthly." From Mr. Simeon he learnt, to his ex- 

UOFC. 



100 MEMOIR OF 

ceeding comfort, that his flock at Cambridge intended, 
on the day of his departure, as far as it could be as- 
certained, to give themselves to fasting and prayer ; 
and at his hands he received, with peculiar gratifica- 
tion, a silver compass, sent by them as a memorial of 
their unfeigned affection ; for which the following let- 
ter is expressive of his acknowledgments : 

Portsmouth, July 11 1805. 
" My dearest Brethren, 

" I write you in great haste, to thank you most af- 
fectionately for the token of your love, which our dear 
brother and minister has given me from you. O may 
my God richly recompense you for your great affec- 
tion ! May he reward your prayers for me, by pour- 
ing tenfold blessings into your own bosoms ! May he 
bless you with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus ! 
At the command of God, as I believe, I shall, in a few 
hours, embark for those regions where your little pre- 
sent may be of use to me, in guiding my way through 
the trackless desert. I pray that the word of God, 
which is your compass, may, through the Spirit, di- 
rect your path through the wilderness of this world, 
and bring you in safety to the better country above 
I beg your prayers, and assure you of mine. Remem 
ber me sometimes at your social meetings, and parti 
cularly at that which you hold on the Sabbath morn 
ing. Pray not only for my sinful soul, that. I may be 
kept faithful unto death, but especially for the souls 
of the poor heathen. Whether I live or die, let Christ 
be magnified by the in-gathering of multitudes to him- 
self. 1 have many trials awaiting me, and so have 



HENRY MARTYN. 10] 

you; but thai covenant of grace in which we are in- 
terested, provides for the weakest,, and secures our 
everlasting welfare. Farewell, dear brethren! May 
God long continue to you the invaluable labors of your 
beloved minister ; and may you, with the blessing of 
his ministry, grow, day by day, in all spirituality and 
humility of mind ; till God, in his mercy, shall call 
you, each in his own time, to the eternal enjoyment 
of his glory." 

The few days Mr. Martyn remained at Portsmouth 
were spent in conversing with his brethren on the 
things pertaining to the kingdom of God, and in social 
supplication and thanksgiving. His prayer, on the day 
he expected finally to quit the shores of England, will 
not easily be forgotten by those " who bowed their 
knees together with him to the God and Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ;" it ascended to the "lofty One," 
from the lowest depths of humiliation, and breathed 
the most entire devotedness of body, soul, and spirit, 
to his service. His whole demeanor, indeed, could not 
fail of tenderly affecting, as well as indelibly impress- 
ing their hearts and minds. One of those then pre- 
sent, who little thought that the task he now so ina- 
dequately attempts to execute would ever be assigned 
him, well remembers his own sensations on that most 
trying and yet triumphant occasion : and how com- 
pletely every thought within him was absorbed in ad- 
miration of the astonishing grace bestowed on his 
friend, and in bitter regret at being deprived of his 
society. Nor let it be surmised that the fondness of 
friendship has exaggerated the sacrifices Mr. Marty rj 



102 MEMO IK OF 

was then enduring. A chaplainsbip in the East India 
Company, to many, presents advantages highly val- 
ued and eagerly sought ; but, considered as a pecu- 
niary provision, it could have no attractions for Mr. 
Martyn. To him, a curacy in Cornwall would have 
been far preferable : and at Cambridge, such was his 
academical fame that ample emolument was certain. 
In our estimate, too, of his privations, we should re- 
member, that whilst motives not to be disparaged 
carried many with him far from the happy land of 
their nativity, the principles which actuated him were 
purely spiritual. They also had hopes of a return ; 
their eyes might one day sparkle with joy on the 
shores where then they were suffused with sorrow. 
Mr. Martyn had no such anticipations : before him the 
horizon was dark around — not a streak of light was 
visible. He went forth to preach the Gospel to the 
heathen, and it was his fixed resolution to live and 
die amongst them. When he left England, he left it 
wholly for Christ's sake, and he left it for ever. 

On the 17th of July, 1805, the Union East Indiaman, 
which was to convey Mr. Martyn to Calcutta, sailed 
from Portsmouth in company with a large fleet, under 
the command of Captain Byng, and two days after- 
wards came to an anchor in the port of Falmouth. An 
extract of a letter written from this place to Mr. Simeon, 
feelingly depicts Mr. Martyn's sensations, when, on 
awaking on the morning of the 17th, it rushed upon 
his mind that his voyage was really commenced. " It 
was a very painful moment to me when I awoke, on 
the morning after you left us, and found the fleet ac- 



HENRY MARTYN. 103 

tually sailing down the channel. Though it was what 
I had anxiously been looking forward to so long, yet 
the consideration of being parted for ever from my 
friends, almost overcame me. My feelings were those 
of a man who should suddenly be told that every 
friend he had in the world was dead. It was only by 
prayer for them that I could be comforted ; and this 
was indeed a refreshment to my soul, because by 
meeting them at the throne of grace, I seemed to be 
again in their society." 

The arrival of the fleet at Falmouth was an event 
wholly unforeseen by Mr. Martyn, who was somewhat 
agitated " at the singularity of the providence of God, 
in thus leading him once more into the bosom of all his 
friends." — u May the Lord," said he, " glorify himself 
in this and in every other dispensation !" How trying 
this dispensation was to him, it will not require many 
quotations from his journal to demonstrate. From 
these it will be evident that, delightful as it was to him 
once more to land upon the shores where he had 
sported gaily in his infancy, and meditated divinely in 
maturer age, it would have been far happier for him 
had a storm in the night hurried him past his beloved 
Cornwall. But God, who doeth all things well, mani- 
festly intended to strengthen his faith, by putting it to 
a severe exercise. 

July 29.—-" I was much engaged at intervals, in 
learning the hymn, ' The God of Abraham praise; 5 as 
often as I could use the language of it with any truth, 
my heart was a little at ease. 



104 MEMOIR OF 

* The God of Abraham praise, 
At whose supreme command 
From earth I rise, and seek the joys 
At his right hand. 

I all on earth forsake, 

Its wisdom, fame, and power 
And him my only portion make, 

My shield and tower." 

" There was something peculiarly solemn and affect- 
ing to me in this hymn, and particularly at this time. 
The truth of the sentiments I knew well enough. But, 
alas ! I felt that the state of mind expressed in it was 
above mine at the time ; and I felt loth to forsake all 
on earth." 

" Not being able to reach the ship, I slept at a little 
public house on the road, where I lay down in the most 
acute mental misery, and rose the next morning dis- 
turbed and unrefreshed. The morning was beautifully 
serene, but on account of the tempest within, that very 
circumstance was disgusting to me. A dark and 
stormy day would have been more in unison with my 
feelings." 

" I went on board in extreme anguish, and found an 
opportunity in the sloop by which I passed to the ship, 
to cry, with brokermess of spirit, to the Lord. The 
words, ' Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O 
Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judg- 
ment is passed over from my God, 5 were brought to 
my mind with such force, that I burst into a flood of 
tears ; and felt much relieved in my soul, by the thought 
that God was thus compassionate, and the blessed 
Lord Jesus a merciful and compassionate High Priest, 



HENRY MARTYN. 105 

who condescended to sympathize with me. In the af- 
ternoon it pleased God to give me a holy and blessed 
season in prayer, in which my soul recovered much 
of its wonted peace." Thus did God, in answer to 
prayer, in some measure refresh his soul. An attempt 
also which he made to comfort another person in the 
ship with him, served to invigorate his own drooping 
spirit. " They stood together," as he represents it, 
" looking anxiously at the ra'ging sea, and sighed to 
think of the happy societies of God's people, who, as 
it was the Sabbath day, were then joining in sweet 
communion in public worship. But the topics of con- 
versation which Mr. Martyn endeavored to bring be- 
fore his disconsolate companion had a happy re-action 
on his own mind : whilst cheering him, he was cheered 
himself. " The blessed Spirit of God applied the 
blood of Jesus to cleanse away his sin, and restore 
him to comfort:" and at night he could commit him- 
self to rest, " tossed," as he expresses it, " by the roar 
ing surge, but composed and peaceful with the ever- 
lasting arms underneath him." 

During his detention for about three weeks at Fal- 
mouth, he preached several times in the ship, as well 
as on shore ; and, amongst other texts, he addressed 
his hearers from that most appropriate one, c Jesus 
came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given 
unto me in heaven and on earth. Go ye, therefore, 
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; 
teaching them to obseive all things whatsoever I 
have commanded you : and lo ! I am with you alway 
even unto the end of the world. Amen.' Matt. 28 • 



106 MEMOIR OF 

18-20. A sermon from Mr. Marty n on those words oi' 
Scripture was well calculated to produce a powerful 
effect on the minds of his audience: for what more 
striking comment upon the passage could there be, 
than the very circumstance of his appearing amongst 
them, upon his apostolical labor of love? 

On the 10th of August the signal was made for the 
ships to sail, at which time, having been deceived by 
the information communicated to him concerning the 
continuance of the fleet in port, Mr. Marty n was ab- 
sent at the distance of twenty miles in the country. 
The express announcing this mistake was like a thun- 
der-stroke to him ; but, by making all possible des- 
patch, he contrived to reach the Union just in time. 
That ship, as if by the appointment of Providence, had 
met with an accident in clearing out of the harbor, 
which impeded her progress, whilst almost all the 
others were under way. The commander, as he pass- 
ed, expressed his displeasure at her delay ; but Mr. 
Marty n discovered the high and gracious hand of God 
in this event, and " blessed him for having thus saved 
his poor creature from shame and trouble." " So delu- 
sive," to adopt his own reflections, " are schemes of 
pleasure! At nine in the morning I was sitting at 
ease with the person dearest to me upon earth, intend- 
ing to go out with her afterwards to see different 
views, to visit some persons with her, and preach on 
the morrow: four hours only elapsed, and I was un- 
der sail from England." 

The anxiety Mr. Martyn had felt to reach his ship, 
and the joy he experienced at having effected his ob- 
ject, for a time absorbed other and more sorrowful 



HENRY MARTYN. 107 

considerations : but when left a little at leisure, his 
spirits, as he acknowledges, began to sink. " He seem- 
ed backward, also, to draw near to God ; and though, 
when he did so, he found relief, he was still slow to 
flee to the refuge of his weary soul." 

Unhappily for him, during the whole of the 10th, 
and for the greater part of the succeeding day, Corn- 
wall was still in sight : and who is there, endued with 
the sensibilities of our common nature, but must have 
been subjected to the most painful emotions, whilst 
slowly passing for the last time along a coast, where 
every object which caught the eye — every headland, 
every building, every wood, served to remind him of 
endearments that were passed, and of pleasures never 
to be renewed ? 

That Apostle who professed that he was "ready, 
not to be bound only, but to die at Jerusalem, for the 
name of the Lord Jesus," exclaimed also — " What 
mean ye to weep, and to break my heart ?" And he, 
too, when sailing to Rome, along the " sea of Ciiicia," 
may well be supposed to have looked mournfully to- 
wards the region of his nativity, and to have thought 
with pain on Tarsus. 

But Mr. Marty n's own hand shall portray his feel- 
ings.— Sunday, August 11. "I rose dejected, and ex- 
tremely weak in body. After simply crying to God 
for mercy and assistance, I preached on Heb.ll: 16; 
'But now they desire a better country, that is, a 
heavenly : wherefore God is not ashamed to be called 
their God, for he hath prepared for them a city.' On 
repeating the text a second time, I could scarcely re- 
frain from bursting into tears For the Mcssrt and St s 



108 MEMOIR OF 

Hilary sph. ^iid trees were just discernible by the 
naked eye at the time I began my sermon, by saying, 
" that now the shores of England were receding fast 
from our view, and that we had taken a long, and, to 
many of us, an everlasting farewell," &c. We had 
made little way during the night, and in the morning 
I was pleased to find that we were in Mount's Bay, 
midway between the Land's-end and the Lizard ; and 
I was often with my glass recalling those beloved 
scenes ; 'till after tea, when, on ascending the poop, I 
found that they had disappeared : but this did not 
prevent my praying for all on shore. Amidst the ex- 
treme gloom of my mind this day, I found great plea- 
sure, at seasons of prayer, in interceding earnestly for 
my beloved friends all over England." 

The dejection of mind of which Mr. Martyn here 
speaks, and which returned the next day with an 
overpowering influence, was evidently combined with, 
and augmented by, much bodily infirmity; and no 
doubt would have been alleviated by the sympathis- 
ing intercourse of a companion in tribulation, and 
in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. The 
original injunction given to the seventy, was given 
by him who knew what was in man, and who 
therefore sent them "two and two before his face 
into every city," — for "two are better than one, be- 
cause they have a good reward for their labor : for if 
they fall, the one will lift up his fellow : but wo to 
him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not 
another to help him up," — Eccles. 4 : 9, 10. 

" England had disappeared, and with it, all my 
peace." " The pains of memory were ail I felt. Would 



HENRY MARTY N. 109 

I go back ? O no ! But how can I be supported ? My 
faith fails. I find, by experience, that I am weak as 
water. O my dear friends in England! when we spoke 
with exultation of the mission to the heathen, whilst 
in the midst of health, and joy, and hope ; what an 
imperfect idea did we form of the sufferings by which 
it must be accomplished !" Such were the complain- 
ings of his spirit, overwhelmed within him. Yet there 
were moments when he could "realize the realms of 
glory," and when " all earthly things died away in 
insignificance." 

On the 14th of August the fleet came to an anchor 
in the Cove of Cork : and there, in a spiritual sense, 
Mr. Martyn found that " haven where he would be:" 
there he discovered that "heaviness may endure for a 
night, but joy cometh in the morning;" and he who 
before had felt "poor and needy, with his heart 
wounded within him," could then say, " I will greatly 
praise the Lord with my mouth;" " thanks be to God, 
which causeth us always to triumph in Christ." 2 
Cor. 2 : 14. — " After a long and blessed season in 
prayer, I felt," he says, "the spirit of adoption draw- 
ing me very near to God, and giving me the full assu- 
rance of his love. My fervent prayer was, that I might 
be more deeply and habitually convinced of his un- 
changing, everlasting love, and that my whole soul 
might be altogether in Christ. I scarcely knew how to 
express the desires of my heart. I wanted to be all in 
Christ, and to have Christ for my ' all in all ;' to be en- 
circled in his everlasting arms, and to be swallowed 
up altogether in his fullness. I wished for no created 
good, or for men to know my experience : but to be 



HO MEMOIR OP 

one with thee, and live for thee, O God, my Savior 
and Lord. O may it be my constant care to live free 
from the spirit of bondage, at all times having access 
to the Father. This I feel should be the state of the 
Christian ; perfect reconciliation with God, and a per- 
fect appropriation of him in all his endearing attn- 
butes, according to all that he has promised — it is this 
that shall bear me safely through the storm." AVhat 
is this but the happiness intended by the Psalmist, 
when he breaks forth in those words of sublimity and 
rapture : " Blessed are the people which know the 
joyful sound ; they shall walk, Lord, in the light of 
thy countenance : in thy name shall they rejoice all 
the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be ex- 
alted." Psalm 89 : 15, 16. 

At Cork Mr. Martyn endeavored to procure an ad- 
mission to a pulpit in the city, as well as to preach to 
the convicts going out with the fleet to Botany Bay, 
but was unsuccessful in both these attempts. On 
board his own ship he regularly prayed and preach- 
ed once every Sabbath, lamenting that the captain 
would not permit the performance of more than one 
service. This being the case, his usefulness in the 
ship depended much, he conceived, on his private 
ministrations. Scarcely a day, therefore, passed with- 
out his going between the decks; where, after assem- 
bling all who were willing to attend, he read to them 
some religious book, upon which he commented as he 
went on. " Some attend fixedly — others are look- 
ing another way — some women are employed about 
their children, attending for a little while, and then 
heedless ; some rising up and going away— others ta 



HENRY MARTYN. Ill 

king their place ; and numbers, especially of those who 
have been upon watch, strewed all along upon the deck 
fast asleep — one or two from the upper decks looking 
down and listening ;" such is the picture he draws of 
his congregation below. The situation of things 
above, when he performed his weekly duty on the 
Sabbath, was not, according to his own statement, 
more encouraging. There the opposition of some, and 
the inattention of others, put his meekness and pa- 
dence very strongly to the test. " The passengers," 
as he describes it, "were inattentive — the officers, 
many of them sat drinking ; so that he could overhear 
their noise ; and the captain was with them. His own 
soul was serious, and undisturbed by the irreverence 
of the hearers, and he thought that he could have 
poured it out in prayer, without restraint, in defiance 
of their scornful gaze." — " How melancholy and hu- 
miliating," he could not help adding, " is this mode of 
public ordinances on shipboard, compared with the 
respect and joy with which the multitudes come up to 
hear my brethren on shore ! but this prepares me for 
preaching amongst the heedless Gentiles." 



112 MEMOIR OF 



CHAPTER IV. 



DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND MINISTRY ON BOARD SHIP— INCI- 
DENTS OF THE VOYAGE — VISITS FDNCHAL — ST. SALVADOR — 
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE — OPPOSED IN HIS MINISTRY — FEELINGS IN 
APPROACHING INDIA — ARRIVES AT MADRAS — REACHES CALCUTTA. 

On the 31st of August, after having been detained 
above a fortnight in the Cove of Cork, the fleet, con- 
sisting of fifty transports, five men-of-war, and the In- 
diaman, put to sea ; and now again Mr. Martyn suffer- 
ed much both in body and mind ; he became languid 
and feverish — his nights w r ere sleepless, and his men- 
tal conflict was extremely sharp. "My anguish at 
times," he says, "was inexpressible, when I awoke 
from my disturbed dreams, to find myself actually on 
my way, with a long sea rolling between me and all I 
held dear in this life." — " To describe the variety of 
perplexing, heart-rending, agonizing thoughts w 7 hich 
passed through my mind, and which, united with the 
weakness and languor of my body, served to depress 
me into the depths of misery, would be impossible. 
The bodily suffering w r ould be nothing, did not Satan 
improve his advantage in representing the happiness 
and ease of the life I had left. However, God did not 
leave me quite alone, poor and miserable as I was. I 
was helped to recollect several things in Scripture 
which encouraged me to hold on : such as, c If we suf- 
fer with him, we shall also reign with him :' the exam- 
ples, likewise, of Moses, Abraham, and St. Paul ; of 



HENRY MARTVN. 113 

our blessed Lord himself, and of his saints at the pre- 
sent moment. I repeated the farewell discourse of St. 
Paul, and endeavored to think how he would act in 
my situation. I thought of all God's people looking 
out after me with expectation — following me with 
their wishes and prayers. I thought of the holy an- 
gels, some of whom, perhaps, were guarding me 
on my way; and of God and of Christ, approving 
my course and mission. ' Who will go for me ? Here 
am I — send me.' I thought of the millions of precious 
souls that now and in future ages might be benefited." 
By such considerations as these — by prayer — by re- 
citing Scripture — by praying over it— by casting him- 
self simply upon Christ— and by looking upon pain 
and suffering as his daily portion, (which thought won- 
derfully served to tranquilize his mind) — Mr. Marty n 
was carried through a season of great tribulation, in 
which he might almost have adopted the words of the 
Psalmist, " Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in 
darkness^ in the deeps. Thine indignation lieth hard 
upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy 
waves j" Psalm, 88 : 6, 7. But it is an inspired decla- 
ration, that "they that wait on the Lord shall renew 
their strength : they shall mount up with wings as ea- 
gles ; they shall run and not be weary ; they shall walk 
and not faint;" nor was it long before he could affix 
his seal to the truth of this testimony. " In prayer," 
he says shortly after this, " I soon launched sweetly 
into eternity, and found joy unspeakable in thinking 
of my future rest, and of the boundless love and joy I 
should ever taste in Christ's beloved presence here- 
after. I found no difficulty in stirring myself up to the 



114 MEMOIR OF 

contemplation of heaven — my soul through grace re- 
alized it, and I delighted to dwell, by faith, on those 
blissful scenes." 

Shortly after the fleet had sailed from Ireland, a tre- 
mendous storm arose ; and though it was the first that 
Mr. Martyn had ever witnessed, his mind was kept 3 
during a night of general anxiety and consternation, 
in perfect peace. " He lay, endeavoring to realize his 
speedy appearance before God in judgment — not in- 
deed without sorrowful convictions of his sinfulness, 
and supplications for mercy in the name of Jesus, but 
with a full confidence in the willingness of God to re- 
ceive him, and a desire to depart." But he was chief- 
ly led " to think of the many poor souls in the ship, 
and to pray that they might have a longer time for re- 
pentance, and that the terrors of that night might be 
of lasting benefit." In the morning, when the vessel 
was going under bare poles, the sea covered with so 
thick a mist from the spray and rain that nothing 
could be seen but the tops of the nearest waves, which 
seemed to be running over the windward side of the 
ship — he seized the opportunity of pointing out the 
way of saltation to one of the passengers, who ap- 
peared much terrified ; and most willingly, had cir- 
cumstances permitted, would he have preached to the 
whole ship's company, warning them to flee from the 
wrath to come, and to lay hold on eternal life. The 
Sunday following he read the thanksgiving prayer 
after a storm. 

Mr. Marty n's voyage, before tins alarming tempest, 
had been far from expeditious. Seven wearisome weeks 
had he passed without having proceeded farther than 



HENRY M.ARTYN. 1 15 

the atilude of the Lizard. The wind now began to 
carry him forward, and about the end of the month of 
September he reached Madeira. 

His journal, during the interval between the subsid- 
ing of the storm and his arrival at Porto Santo, con- 
tains these admirable reflections : 

Sept. 9. — a My chief concern was, that this season of 
peace might be improved : when the Lord gave David 
rest from all his enemies round about, then he began 
to think of building a temple to the Lord. Passed 
many sweet hours of the evening in reading — found a 
rich feast in reading Hooker's Sermons : the doctrines 
of grace are a cordial to me. We are now in latitude 
46°, long 12°. The sea, which I am looking on from 
the port-hole, is comparatively smooth, yet it exhibits 
the moon-beams only in broken reflections. It is thus 
an emblem of my heart ; no longer tossed with tempes- 
tuous passions, it has subsided a little ; but still the 
mild beams of the Spirit fall on an undulating surface ; 
but the time of perfect rest approaches." 

Sept. 10. — " Endeavored to consider what should be 
my study and preparation for the mission ; but could 
devise no particular plan, but to search the Scriptures, 
what are God's promises respecting the spread of the 
Gospel, and the means by which it shall be accom- 
plished. Long seasons of prayer in behalf of the hea- 
then I am sure are necessary. Isaiah, 62. I began 
Isaiah, and learnt by heart the promises scattered 
through the first twelve chapters, hoping it may prove 
profitable matter for meditation as well as prayer. Read 
the Pilgrim's Progress, below, amidst the greatest noise 
and interruption. Notwithstanding the clamor, I felt 



116 MEMOIR OF 

as if I could preach to a million of noisy persons with 
unconquerable boldness. We have been becalmed the 
whole day. I fear my soul has been much in the same 
state ; but I would not that it should be so any longer." 

Sept. 13. — K In my walk, my attention was engaged 
by the appearance of mutiny amongst the men. Last 
night the ship's crew and the soldiers refused their al- 
lowance, and this morning, when they piped to dinner, 
they gave three cheers. After some time, a seaman was 
fixed on as the ringleader; and from his behavior I 
was not sorry to hear the captain order him to be put 
into irons. As it was a sorrowful and humiliating thing 
to me, I retired to pray for them and myself. In the 
afternoon I read as usual, and found two occasions of 
speaking in reference to the mutinous murmurs." 

Sept. 14. — " Found great pleasure and profit in Mi- 
ner's Church History. I love to converse, as it were, 
with those holy martyrs, with whom I hope, through 
grace, to spend a happy eternity." 

Sept. 15. — Sunday. " ' He that testifieth these things 
saith, Behold, I come quickly. — Amen. Even so, 
come quickly, Lord Jesus !' Happy John ! though 
shut out from society and the ordinances of grace ; 
happy wast thou in thy solitude, when by it thou wast 
induced thus gladly to welcome the Lord's words, and 
repeat them with a prayer. Read and preached on 
Acts, 13 : 38, 39. In the latter part, when I was led to 
speak, without preparation, on the all-sufficiency pi 
Christ to save sinners, who came to him with all their 
sins without delay, I was carried away with a divine 
aid, to speak with freedom and energy : my soul was 
refreshed, and I retired, seeing reason to be thankful. 



HENRY MARTYN. 117 

The weather was fair and calm, inviting the mind tc 
tranquility and praise : the ship just moved upon the 
face of the troubled ocean. I went below in hopes of 
reading Baxter's Call to the Unconverted ; but there 
was no getting down, as they were taking out water; 
so I sat with the seamen on the gun-deck. As I walked 
in the evening at sun-set, I thought with pleasure, but 
a few more suns, and I shall be where my sun shall 
no more go down. Read Isaiah the rest of the even- 
ing; sometimes happy, but at other, times tired, and 
desiring to take up some other religious book ; but I 
saw it an important duty to check this slighting of the 
word of God." 

Sept. 16. — " Two things were much in my mind 
this morning in prayer ; the necessity of entering more 
deeply into my own heart, and laboring after humilia- 
tion, and, for that reason, setting apart times for fast- 
ing; as also to devote times for solemn prayer for fit- 
ness in the ministry ; especially love for souls ; and for 
the effusion of the Spirit on heathen lands, according 

to God's command. M coming in, said that many 

had become more hostile than ever; saying, they 
should come up to prayers, because they believed I was 
sincere ; but not to the sermon, as I did nothing but 
preach about hell ; I hope this portends good. Pre- 
vented reading below from the same cause as on 
Sunday." 

Sept. 17. — " It began to blow hard again ; the calm- 
ness and pleasure with which I contemplated death, 
made me rather fear that I did not fear it enough. 
Read below with the soldiers. 

Sept. 18.— " Rose ill, and continued so all the day 



118 MEMOIR OP 

Tried to encourage myself in the Lord. Looking at 
the sea, my soul was enabled to rejoice in the great 
maker of it as my God." 

Sept. 19. — " Was assisted this morning to pray for 
two hours, principally in regard to God's promises re- 
specting the spread of the Gospel. Read Hindoostanee 
and Milner ; found the men forbidden to go below, so 
I know not how they are to be instructed ; may the 
Lord open a way !— The weather is calm and sultry, 
my frame relaxed to a painful degree ; I am led to 
seek a quiet, meek submission to every thing that shall 
befall me. O ! this blessed frame, would that it may 
continue ! I feel it to be the right disposition of a crea- 
ture, approving of every thing, because it is God's 
doing." 

Sept. 20. — " My soul was blessed with a sacred and 
holy reverence in the work of God this morning : it 
was the sentiment of serious love, such as I should al 
ways wish to maintain. To behold God in his glory, 
and worship him for what he is in himself, I should 
believe, is the bliss of heaven. Exercised myself in 
Hindoostanee; read the Pilgrim's Progress to a few 
below deck ; continued to delight in the prospect of 
preaching in India. The example of the Christians of 
the early ages has been a source of sweet reflection to 
me frequently to-day ; the holy love and devout medita- 
tions of Augustine and Ambrose I delight to think of." 

Sept. 21. — " I seemed uneasy at the thoughts of 
calling forth the hatred of the people to-morrow, by 
preaching to them unpleasant truths." 

Sept. 22. — Sunday. " Was more tried by the fear of 
man than I ever have been since God called me to 



HENRY MARTYN. U ( j 

the ministry. The threats and opposition of these men 
made me unwilling to set before them the truths which 
they hated ; yet I had no species of hesitation about 
doing it. They had let me know that if I would preach 
a sermon like one of Blair's, they should be glad to 
hear it, but they would not attend if so much of hell 

was preached. This morning, again Captain said 

i Mr. Martyn must not damn us to-day, or none will 
come again.' I was a little disturbed ; but Luke, 10, 
and above all our Lord's last address to his disciples, 
John, 14 : 16, strengthened me, and I took for my text 
Psalm 9 : 17, ' The wicked shall be turned into hell, 
and all the nations that forget God.' The officers were 
ail behind my back, in order to have an opportunity 

of retiring in case of dislike. B attended the whole 

time. H , as soon as he heard the text, went back 

and said he would hear no more about hell ; so he em- 
ployed himself in feeding the geese. said I had 

shut him up in hell ; and the universal cry was, ' We 
are all to be damned.' However, God, I trust, blessed 
the sermon to the good of many. Some of the cadets, 
and many of the soldiers, were in tears. I felt an ardor 
and vehemence in some parts which are unusual with 

me. After service, walked the deck with Mrs. ; 

she spoke with so much simplicity and amiable humi- 
lity that I was full of joy and adoration to God for a 
sheep brought home to his fold. In the afternoon went 
below, intending to read to them at the hatchway, but 
there was not one of them ; so I could get nothing to 
do among the poor soldiers." 

Sept. 23. — " We are just to the south of all Europe, 
and I bid adieu to it for ever, without a wish of ever 



120 MEMOIR OF 

revisiting it, and still less with any desire of taking up 
my rest in the strange land to which I am going. Ah ! 
no — farewell, perishing world ! ' To me to live' shall 
be ' Christ.' I have nothing to do here but to labor 
as a stranger, and by secret prayer and outward exer- 
tion do as much as possible for the church of Christ 
and my own soul, till my eyes close in death, and my 
soul wings its way to a brighter world. Strengthen 
me, O God, my Savior, that, whether living or dying, 
I may be thine." 

Sept. 24. — " The determination with which I went 
to bed last night, of devoting this day to prayer and 
fasting, I was enabled to put into execution." 

Sept. 25. — " Most of the morning employed in Hin- 
doostanee. Read the Pilgrim's Progress and Baxter 
below. Had a long conversation with one of the 
Lascars." 

Sept. 27. — " The oaths I heard on deck moved my 
indignation ; but I recollected the words of the Mace- 
donian in the dream, " Come over and help us." Pro- 
bably there was no one in Macedon that felt his need 
of help, but the Holy Spirit put it in this engaging way, 
because they did request as much by their silent mise- 
ry. So I thought that every oath they swore, was a 
call on me to help them. In the afternoon I was told 
that I could not go below, as there had been fires light- 
ed to air the deck. Went, by way of changing the 
scene, in a boat to the Sarah Christiana, about three 
miles off. It was a novel thing to be in a little boat in 
the midst of the great ocean. The nearest main-land, 
Africa, was three hundred and fifty miles distant. I 
reflected without pain that England was eleven hun- 
dred miles off" 



HENRY MARTY IS'. 121 

Sept. 28. — " My thoughts were much engaged, as 
well as those about me, with the prospect of going on 
shore. They were doing nothing else for hours, but 
looking out with their glasses for land. After dinner, 
on coming out, I saw the majestic heights of Porto 
Santo, distant about five or six leagues. Again I w r as 
disappointed of going below, from the same cause as 
before. Was diverted from my proper work by look- 
ing at a Portuguese grammar. So astonishing is the 
weakness of my heart, that every trifle has power to 
draw me from that communion with God which my 
better will chooses as my best and beloved portion. 
O for the steady ' abiding under the shadow of the 
Almighty; 5 and as the days pass on, and bring me 
nearer to the end of the things which are seen, so let 
me be more and more quickened, to be ready for the 
unseen world." 

" By faith I see the land 
With peace and plenty blest: 
A land of sacred liberty 
And endless rest." 

Mr. Martyn's diligence in his humble and despised 
ministrations amongst the soldiers in the ship with 
him* will not have escaped the attention of those who 
have read the above extracts. It will have been re- 
marked, that there were not many days in which he 
remitted this work. Nor was his labor confined to the 
soldiers; their officers were addressed by him with 
equal earnestness, on every fair and favorable oppor- 
tunity. With some he had frequent religious conver- 
sations. The cadets, also, he endeavored to " allure to 



122 MEMOIR OF 

brighter worlds;" and to show that he had also their 
welfare in this world at heart, he offered gratuitously 
to instruct in mathematics as many as chose to come 
to him ; an offer which several accepted : and as if 
this were not enough to occupy his time, he under- 
took also to read French with another passenger, who 
was desirous of improvement in r.hat language. He 
was willing to u become ail things to all men, that he 
might by all means gain some." How far it were wise 
in him to preach upon the awful subject of eternal 
misery immediately after an injunction to abstain 
from such a topic, is a question which may admit Qf 
a diversity of sentiment. Certain, however, it is, that 
men may be told, " even weeping, that their end is 
destruction;" and the temper by which Mr. Martyn 
was invariably characterized, leaves no room to doubt 
that his conduct in this instance was influenced by an 
imperious sense of duty, and by the tender overflow- 
ings of love. 

The sight of a foreign land, where superstition held 
her dark and undisputed sway, naturally excited a 
new train of sensations in Mr. Martyivs mind, which he 
thus communicated from Funchal, to a near relation 
at Falmouth. " Yesterday morning we came to an 
anchor at this place. The craggy mountains, at the 
foot of which Funchal is situated, make a most grand 
and picturesque appearance. On entering the town, I 
was struck with the conviction of being in a foreign 
country. Everything was different: the houses, even 
the poorest, all regular and stately — every where 
groves of orange and lemon trees — the countenances, 
and dress, and manners of the people different from 



IIENKY MARTYN. 123 

those I had been used to — black-skirted Catholic 
priests, and nun-like women, with beads and a cruci- 
fix, passing in all directions. How would St. Paul 
have sighed in passing through this town, so wholly 
given up to idolatry! I went to the great church, 
where they were performing high mass, and was per- 
fectly dazzled with the golden splendor of the place. 
But all the external aids of devotion lost their usual 
effect upon me, while I contemplated the endless multi- 
tude of mountebank tricks the priests were exhibiting- 
Is it possible, thought I, that this should be a Chris- 
tian church ! There was no appearance of attention, 
excepting in one poor African woman, who was cross- 
ing herself repeatedly, with the utmost expression of 
contrition in her countenance." 

After remaining four days at Funchal, the fleet put 
to sea, information having been previously imparted 
to the army that their object was the capture of the 
Cape of Good Hope, and that accordingly they 
might expect, ere long, to meet an enemy on the field 
of battle. 

Intelligence of this nature served to quicken that 
activity and zeal which, in Mr. Marty n, had not hi- 
therto been either sluggish or supine. He was there- 
fore perpetually visiting, or attempting to visit, that 
part of his flock which was so soon to be exposed to 
the perils of warfare. " I entreated them even with 
tears," said he, " out of fervent love for their souls, 
and I could have poured away m}^ life to have per- 
suaded them to return to God." By a sentence in 
Milner's Church History — i: To believe, to suffer, and 
to love, was the primitive taste " — he states that his 



124 MEMOIR OF 

mind, at this time, was very deeply impressed ; observ. 
ing that "no uninspired sentence ever affected him 
so much." It was, in fact, an epitome of his own life, 
conversation, and spirit : a lively exemplification of 
which is to be found in the manner in which, during 
this part of the voyage, he strove against an extreme 
and oppressive languor of body, which tended to im- 
pede his present labors, and threatened to impair his fu- 
ture efficiency. " The extreme weakness and languor 
of my body made me fear I should never be used as a 
preacher in India : but what," said he, " means this 
anxiety ? Is it not of God that I am led into outward 
difficulties, that my faith may be tried? Suppose you 
are obliged to return, or that you never see India, but 
wither and die here, what is that to you? Do the will 
of God where you are, and leave the rest to him." — 
" I found great satisfaction in reflecting that my 
hourly wisdom was, not to repine, or to look for a 
change ; but to consider what is my duty in existing 
circumstances, and then to do it, in dependence upon 
grace." So deeply was his soul imbued with the 
"primitive taste," and so entirely did it accord with 
that wise maxim of such universal but difficult ap- 
plication — 

" Tu tua fac cures — csetera mitte Deo."* 

The voyage from Porto Santo to St. Salvador 
v Brazil) was accomplished in little more than five 
weeks ; during which the special Providence of God 

* Take care to do your duty , leave the rest to God. 



HENRY MARTYN. 125 

watched over Mr. Martyn and those who sailed with 
him. Soon after crossing the line, on the 30th of Oc- 
tober, the Union, in which he sailed, passed in the 
night within a very short distance of a dangerous reef 
of rocks, which proved destructive to two other ves- 
sels. The reef lay exactly across the track of the 
Union; and had not the second mate, who was on 
watch, called up the captain and the first mate as soon 
as danger was discovered, they would inevitably have 
been wrecked : their escape was considered as almost 
miraculous. Pieces of the ships that were dashed 
against the rocks floated by them, and many of those 
who had been cast on the reef were seen making sig- 
nals for assistance. The anxiety on board the Union 
respecting these unhappy persons was intense : hap- 
pily they were all saved, with the exception of three 
officers, one of whom lost his life in endeavoring to 
secure a large sum of money : leaving the vessel too 
soon, he sunk to rise no more ; and, as it was sup- 
posed, was devoured by the sharks which surrounded 
the ships in great numbers. Nor was this the only 
peril which the Union escaped : on the coast of South 
America she incurred a similar risk. " O how sweet," 
remarked Mr. Martyn, " to perceive such repeated in- 
stances of God's guardian care S" During this part of 
the voyage, the novel sight of the flying fish beginning 
to attract attention, Mr. Martyn's mind, ever fertile in 
topics of humiliation, could discover "a resemblance 
to his own soul in these poor little creatures, who rose 
to a little height, and then in a minute or two, when 
their fins were dry, dropped into the waves." Others, 
doubtless, would have chosen for him a far different 



12G MEMOIR OF 

similitude, and would have sought it rather in the 
eagle soaring into the fields of light, or in the dove of 
the poet, 

" When at length she springs 
* To smoother flight, and shoots upon her wings." — Drydek. 

* c I find (Mr. Martyn wrote, on his arrival at St. Sal- 
vador, to a friend in England) that neither distance or 
time can separate the hearts which are united in the 
fellowship of the Gospel as well as by mutual esteem. 
Mere earthly affections are weakened by time and ab- 
sence ; but Christian love grows stronger as the day of 
salvation approaches. Already a watery waste of four 
thousand miles lies between me and England : but be- 
cause I have you in my heart, and make mention of 
you without ceasing in my prayers, you seem yet 
scarcely out of sight. 

To another friend he wrote : 

" Though a long sea is already rolling betwixt us 3 
yet I scarcely seem to have lost sight of you, or of my 
dear friends at Cambridge. The hymns we sing, be- 
ing chiefly taken from your collection, daily bring to 
my remembrance the happy days when I went with 
the multitude to the house of Cod, with the voice of 
joy and praise. Those seasons are gone by ; but I com- 
fort myself with thinking that they will quickly be 
renewed in a better country, when we come to dwell 
together in the mansions of our Father's house." 

The description of St. Salvador and the events con- 



HENRY MARTYN. 127 

nected with Mr. Martyn's stay there, we have thus re- 
corded at some length : 

Nov. 12. — " The coast was beautiful, with much ro- 
mantic scenery. The town exactly resembled Funchal, 
but was rather more cheerful. The objects in the street 
were strong negro-men slaves, carrying very heavy 
casks on a pole, with a sort of unpleasant note — negro- 
women carrying fish, fruit, &c. — a few palanquins, 
which are drawn by two mules. The things exposed 
to sale were turtles, bananas, oranges, limes, papaws, 
water-melons, tamarinds, and fustick wood. I walked 
up the hill in order to get into the country, and ob- 
served a man standing by the way-side, holding out, 
for the people's salutation, a silver embossed piece of 
plate of a small oval size, and repeating some words 
about St. Antonio. Some kissed it; others took ofl 
their hats : but the man himself seemed to ridicule 
their folly. They were performing mass in one church ; 
it was not so splendid as that of Madeira \ many of the 
priests were negroes. I soon reached the suburbs, on 
the outside of which was a battery which commanded 
a view of the whole bay, and repeated the hymn, 
' O'er the gloomy hills of darkness. 5 What happy 
missionary shall be sent to bear the name of Christ to 
these western regions ! When shall this beautiful coun- 
try be delivered from idolatry and spurious Christian- 
ity ! Crosses there are in abundance ; but when shall 
the doctrine of the cross be held up ! I continued my 
walk in quest of a wood, or some trees, where I might 
sit down ; but all was appropriated : no tree was to be 
approached except through an enclosure. At last I 
came to a magnificent porch, before a garden gate, 



128 MEMOIR OF 

which was open ; I walked in, but finding the vista led 
straight to the house, I turned to the right, and found 
myself in a grove of cocoa-nut trees, orange trees, and 
several strange fruit trees ; under them was nothing 
but rose-trees, but no verdure on the ground : oranges 
were strewed like apples in an orchard. Perceiving 
that I was observed by the slaves, I came up to the 
house, and was directed by them to an old man sitting 
under a tree, apparently insensible from illness. I spoke 
to him in French and in English ; but he took no no- 
tice. Presently a young man and a young lady ap- 
peared, to whom I spoke in French, and was very po- 
litely desired to sit down at a little table, which was 
standing under a large space before the house like a 
veranda. They brought me oranges, and a small red 
acid fruit, the name of which I asked, but cannot re- 
collect. The young man sat opposite, conversing about 
Cambridge ; he had been educated in a Portuguese uni- 
versity. Almost immediately on finding I was of Cam 
bridge, he invited me to come when I liked to his 
house. A slave, after bringing the fruit, was sent to 
gather three roses for me : the master then walked 
with me round the garden, and showed me, among the 
rest, the coffee-plant : when I left him, he repeated his 
invitation. Thus did the Lord give his servant favor 
in the eyes of Antonio Joseph Corre." 

Nov. 13. — * This morning there was a great storm 
of thunder, lightning, and rain, which awoke me. I 
got up and prayed. Oh! when the last thunder 
echoes from pole to pole, I shall be in earnest, if not 
before. 

Nov. 14.-— "Sennor Antonio received me with the 



HENRY MARTYN. 129 

same cordiality : he begged me to dine with him. 1 
was curious and attentive to observe the difference be- 
tween the Portuguese manners and ours : there were 
but two plates laid on the table, and the dinner con- 
sisted of a great number of small mixed dishes, fol- 
lowing one another in quick succession; but none of 
them very palatable. In the cool of the evening we 
walked out to see his plantation; here every thing 
possessed the charm of novelty. The grounds includ- 
ed two hills, and a valley between them. The hills 
were covered with cocoa-nut trees, bananas, mangoes, 
orange and lemon trees, olives, coffee, chocolate, and 
cotton plants, &c. In the valley was a large planta- 
tion of a shrub or a tree, bearing a cluster of small 
berries, which he desired me to taste : I did, and found 
it was pepper. It had lately been introduced from 
Batavia, and answered very well. It grows on a stem 
about the thickness of a finger, to the height of 
about seven feet, and is supported by a stick, which, 
at that height, has another across it for the branches 
to spread upon. Slaves were walking about the 
grounds, watering the trees and turning up the earth : 
the soil appeared very dry and loose. At night I re- 
turned to the ship in one of the country boats ; which 
are canoes made of a tree hollowed out, ana paddled 
by three men." 

Nov. 18. — "Went ashore at six o'clock, and found 
that Sennor Antonio had been waiting for me two 
hours. It being too late to go into the country, I staid 
at his house till dinner. He kept me too much in his 
company, but I found intervals for retirement. In a 
cool and shady part of the garden, near some water, I 

Marty u 9 



130 MEMOIR OF 

aat and sang— ' O'er the gloomy hills of darkness.' 1 
could read and pray aloud, as there was no fear of 
any one understanding me. In the afternoon we 
went in a palanquin to visit his father. Reading the 
eighty-fourth Psalm, < O how amiable are thy taberna- 
cles/ this morning in the shade, the day when I read 
it last under the trees with L was brought forci- 
bly to my remembrance, and produced some degree of 
melancholy. Of this I was thinking all the way I was 
carried : and the train of reflections into which I was 
led, drew off my attention from the present scene. We 
visited in our way a monastery of Carmelites ; in the 
church belonging to it, my friend Antonio knelt some 
time and crossed himself: I was surprised, but said 
nothing. At his father's house I was described to 
them as one who knew every thing — Arabic, Persian, 
Greek, &c. ; and all stared at me as if I had dropped 
from the skies. The father, Sennor Dominigo, spoke 
a little Latin. A priest, came in, and as it was the first 
time I had been in company with one, I spoke to him 
in Latin ; but he blushed, and said that he did not 
speak it. I was very sorry I had undesignedly put him 
to pain. Had a great deal of conversation with Anto- 
nio, afterwards, on England and on religion. He had 
formed such an idea of England, that he had resolved 
to send his son to be educated there. A slave in my 
bed-room washed my feet. I was struck with the de- 
gree of abasement expressed in the act, and as he held 
the foot in the towel, with his head bowed down to- 
wards it, T remembered the condescension of the 
blessed Lord. May I have grace to follow such hu- 
mility P 



HENRY MARTYN. 131 

Nov. 19. — " Early after breakfast went in a palan- 
quin to Sennor Dominigo's, and from thence with him 
two or three miles into the country: at intervals I got 
out and walked. I was gratified with the sight of what 
I wanted to see; namely, some part of the country in 
its original state, covered with wood ; it was hilly, but 
not mountainous. The luxuriance was so rank, that the 
whole space, even to the tops of the trees, was filled 
with long stringy shrubs and weeds, so as to make 
them impervious and opaque. The road was made 
by cutting away the earth on the side of the hill, so 
that there were woods above and below us. The ob- 
ject of our walk was to see a pepper plantation, majde 
in a valley, on a perfect level. The symmetry of the 
trees was what charmed my Portuguese friend ; but 
to me, who was seeking the wild features of America, 
it was just what I did not want. The person who 
showed us the grounds, was one that had been a ma- 
jor in the Portuguese army, and had retired on a pen- 
sion. The border consisted of pine-apples, planted 
between each tree ; the interior was set with lemon- 
trees, here and there, between the pepper-plants. We 
were shown the root of the mandioc, called by us ta- 
pioca ; it was like a large horse-radish. The mill for 
grinding it was extremely simple ; a horizontal wheel, 
turned by horses, put in motion a vertical one, on the 
circumference of which was a thin brazen plate, fur- 
nished on the inside like a nutmeg-grater : a slave held 
the root to the wheel, which grated it away, and threw 
it in the form of a moist paste into a receptacle below : 
it is then dried in pans, and used as a farina with 
meat, At Sennor Antonio's, a plate of tapioca was 



132 MEMOIR OF 

attached to each of our plates. Some of the peppei 
was nearly ripe, and of a reddish appearance ; when 
gathered, which it is in April, it is dried in the sun. 
In our way to the old major's house we came to a 
small church on an eminence, on a plot of ground 
surrounded b} T a wall, which was for the purpose of 
burying the dead from a neighboring hospital, erected 
for those afflicted with a cutaneous disorder called a 
morphee. What this is I could not learn, as I saw 
none of the patients. The major had apartments at 
the hospital, of which he was inspector. In the church, 
all three knelt and crossed themselves as usual. I said 
nothing ; but upon this a conversation began among 
them, chiefly from Sennor Antonio's mentioning to 
them my objection. The major spoke with a vehe- 
mence which would have become a better cause. An- 
tonio acted as interpreter. By constant appeal to the 
Scriptures on every subject, I gave immediate an- 
swers. The old man concluded the conversation by 
saying, that he was sure I read the Scriptures, and 
therefore would embrace me, which he did after the 
manner of the country. Sennor Antonio told me 
plainly, at last, what I had long been expecting to 
hear, that the prejudices of education were strong, 
and operated to keep his father bigoted ; but that, for 
himself, he had nothing to do with saints ; in secret 
he adored God alone. I could have wished more ; it 
was the confession rather of a liberal than a religious 
mind. Soon after there was a procession of priests 
carrying the sacrament to the house of a person just 
departing ; they both knelt, and continued till it had 
past, Sennor Antonio said that he i conformed to the 



HENRY MARTYN. 133 

custom of the country in trifles/ I thought of Naa- 
man and his god Rimmon. I did not, however, think 
a right to push the matter too suddenly ; but told him, 
m general, how the English Reformers were led to 
prison and to flames, rather than conform 5 and that, 
if I had been born a Portuguese, I would rather be 
imprisoned and burnt, than conform to idolatry. At 
the same time I talked to him of the doctrines of the 
'new birth/ &c. but he did not seem to pay much 
attention. Sennor Dominigo asked me if the soldiers 
had a minister to attend them in their dying moments, 
to instruct and to administer consolation. For the 
first time I felt that I had the worst of the argument, 
and hardly knew what to say to explain such neglect 
among the Protestants. He shrugged up his shoul- 
ders with horror at such a religion. 

" We were then shown the hospital erected by the 
Prince of Portugal : it was a noble building, far supe- 
rior to that at Haslar. In the garden each person, al- 
ternately, gathered a sprig or fragrant leaf for me. 
The person who showed it to us was a chevalier of 
some order. In the chapel Sennor Antonio knelt ; but 
always looked on me smiling, and said, " C'est le cou- 
tume du pays." I left him in order to get on board ; 
but finding, as I went along, a chapel open, I went in 
to see the pictures, all of which contained, as a promi- 
nent figure, a friar of some order. In one, some people 
in flames were laying hold of the twisted rope which 
was pendant from his waist; how apt the image, if 
Jesus Christ were in the room of the friar ! At this 
time a friar, dressed identically as the one in the pic- 
ture, moved slowly along. I followed him through the 



134 MEMOIR OF 

cloisteis and addressed him in Latin. He was a little 
surprised, but replied. He told me that the chapel be- 
longed to a monastery of Franciscan friars. In a 
cloister which led round the second floor of the build- 
ing he stopped ; and by this time we were able to un- 
derstand each other exceedingly well. I then asked 
him to prove from Scripture the doctrine of purgatory, 
of image-worship, the supremacy of the Pope, and 
transubstantiation. His arguments were exceedingly 
weak, and the Lord furnished me with an answer to 
them all. During our conversation, two or three more 
friars assembled round, and joined in the dispute. I 
confuted all their errors, as plainly as possible, from 
the word of God ; and they had nothing to reply, but 
did not seem disconcerted. A whole troop of others, 
passing in procession in the opposite cloister below, 
beckoned to them to retire ; which they did, taking 
me along with them to a cell — two before and one on 
each side. As we passed along the passage, one asked 
me whether I was a Christian ? When we had all 
reached the cell and sat down, I asked for a Bible, 
and the dispute was renewed. I found that they consi- 
dered their errors as not tenable on Scripture ground, 
and appealed to the authority of the church. I told 
them that this church was, by their confession, acting 
against the law of God ; and was therefore not the 
church of God : I also referred them to the last words 
in the Revelation. They seemed most surprised at my 
knowledge of^Scripture. When they were silent, and 
had nothing to say, I was afraid the business would 
end here without good ; and so I said, "you who pro- 
fess to teach the way of truth, how can you dare, be- 



HENRY MARTYN. 135 

fore God, to let the people go on in idolatrous prac- 
tices, which you know to be contrary to the word of 
God?' They looked very grave. The one who spoke 
French, and also the best Latin, grew very angry dur- 
ing their dispute, and talked of the Scripturarum in- 
terpretes — pii sapientissimique vir Augustinus, Ber- 
nardus,* &c. ' But,' said I, ' they were not inspired.' 
4 Yes, 5 he said. But here he was corrected by the rest. 
As this man seemed in earnest, (the rest were some- 
times grave and sometimes laughing,) I asked him 
why he had assumed the cowl of a friar ; he answered, 
6 Ut me abstraherem avanitate rerum mundanarum et 
meipsum sanctum faciam ad gloriam Dei.'t He spoke 
with great impression and earnestness, and seemed 
the most sincere of any. They were acquainted with 
logic, and argued according to rule. He began by say- 
ing, ' Nullam salutem esse extra ecclesiam Catholicam, 
axioma est. ' ' Concedo,' I said — c sed extra Romanam 
salus esse potest.'— c Minime,' they all cried out. — 
' Quare,' said I, ' proba,'* but they could not. At last 
I went away, as the sun had set, and they all attended 
me through the long dark passages. I almost trem- 
bled at the situation and company I was in, but they 
were exceedingly polite, and begged to know when I 

* Interpreters of Scripture— the pious and most learned 
men, Augustine, Bernard, &c. 

t That I might withdraw myself from the vanity of earthly 
things, and devote myself to the glory of God. 

% " That there is no salvation out of the Catholic Church, ia 
an axiom." " Granted," I replied ; " but there is salvation out 
of the Romish church." "By no means," they all cried out, 
« Why " said I, " prove it." 



136 MEMOIR OF 

was coming ashore again, that they might expect me. 
I had staid so long, that, after waiting for hours at the 
different quays, no boat returned ; and I was obliged 
to return to Sennor Antonio's, from whom I received 
an affectionate welcome. His wife and slaves, who 
seemed to be admitted to the utmost familiarity, de- 
lighted to stand around me and teach me the Portu- 
guese names of things." 

Nov. 21. — " Went on shore and breakfasted with 
Sennor Antonio. After dinner, while he slept, I had 
some time for reading, &c. In the evening, he and 
his wife and a female slave played at cards. I sat at 
the table, learning Hindoostanee roots." 

Nov. 23. — " In the afternoon took leave of my kind 
friends Sennor and Sennora Corre. They and the rest 
came out to the garden gate, and continued looking 
till the winding of the road hid me from their sight. 
The poor slave Raymond, who had attended me and 
carried my things, burst into a flood of tears as we 
left the door ; and when I parted from him he was go- 
ing to kiss my feet ; but I shook hands with him, much 
affected by such extraordinary kindness in people to 
whom I had been a total stranger till within a few days. 
What shall I render unto the Lord for all his mercies ! 
In my way to the quay I met a young friar of the 
order of St. Augustine. He understood me enough to 
conduct me part of the way to the convent of the Fran- 
ciscans, till he met with a young priest, to whom he 
consigned me. With him I had a dispute in Latin. 
When I said that in no part of Scripture was it com- 
manded to worship the Virgin, he colored, and said in 
a low tone, ' Yerum est.** At the monastery I met . 

* it is true 



HENRY MARTYN, 137 

with my old friends the same four friars. After re- 
galing me with sweetmeats, they renewed the dispute. 
We parted with mutual lamentations over one an- 
other ; I telling them they were in an awful error ; they 
smiling at my obstinacy, and mourning over my lost 
condition. I went away in no small dejection, that the 
Gospel should have so little effect, or rather none at all. 
This was by no means diminished when I came to the 
boat. It was the commemoration of the Hegira,* and 
our Mohammedan rowers, dressed in white, were sing- 
ing hymns, all the way, to the honor of Mohammed. 

Here was another abomination. B sat beside me, 

and we had a long conversation, and for some time 
went on very well. I cleared away error, as I thought, 
very fast ; and when the time was come, I stated, in a 
few words, the Gospel. The reply was, that ' I was 
not speaking to the purpose ; that, for his part, he could 
not see what more could be necessary than simply to 
tell mankind that they must be sober and honest.' I 
turned away with a deep sigh, cried to God to inter- 
fere in behalf of his Gospel, for in the course of one 
hour I had seen three shocking examples of the reign 
and power of the devil, in the form of Popish and Mo- 
hammedan delusion, and that of the natural man. 1 
never felt so strongly what a nothing I am. All my 
clear arguments are good for nothing ; unless the 
Lord stretch out his hand, I speak to stones. I felt, 
however, no way discouraged ; but only saw the ne- 
cessity of dependence on God. 

After a little more than a fortnight the fleet sailed ; 

Tbe Hight of Mohammed from Mecca, A. D. 616. 



138 



MEMOIR OF 



whilst many a grateful recollection filled the breast, 
and many a fervent prayer ascended from the heart 
of Mr. Martyn, in behalf of Sennor and Sennora 
Corre : from them he had received signal kindness and 
hospitality; and it might not perhaps be too much to 
observe, that "not forgetful to entertain strangers, they 
had entertained an angel unawares." " I have been 
with my friend Antonio," said he, "as a way-faring 
man that tarrieth but for a night ; yet hath the Lord 
put it into his heart to send me on after a goodly sort. 
And now we prosecute our voyage : a few more pas- 
sages, and I shall find myself in the scene of my mi- 
nistry: a few more changes and journeys, and I am 
in eternity." 

As the time approached for the soldiers to take the 
field, Mr. Martyn's anxiety for their eternal welfare 
increased ; and as a proof of it, he set apart a day for 
fasting, humiliation, and intercession for them, as well 
as for all who were in the ship. But he did not inter- 
cede for them, he observed, as being himself righte- 
ous, but chose rather to humble himself with them as 
a sinner, earnestly crying to God in contrition and 
abasement of soul. At this solemn juncture he began 
to read and expound to his auditors the Holy Scrip- 
tures exclusively ; and after some consideration res- 
pecting the propriety of such a step, he determined 
not to suffer them to part without prayer to the Lord, 
as well as singing his praises. Such a procedure, he 
was well aware, would put the faith of his hearers, 
as well as his own, in some measure to a strong and 
severe test. Above, obloquy and contempt might be ex- 
pected ; beloW) noise, and clamor, and scoffs. He ne- 



HENRY MAttTYIN. 139 

vertheless persisted in his purpose, resolving, as the 
line of duty seemed to be clear, to pursue it steadily, 
and calmly to commit all consequences to God. " To 
kneel in prayer," he remarked in a letter to a friend, 
u before a considerable number of lookers-on, some 
working, others scoffing, was a painful cross to my 
poor people at first. But they received strength ac- 
cording to their day : and now the song of us all is, 
i Thou hast prepared a table before me in the presence 
of my enemies. 5 " 

The unhealthy state of the ship's company from dy- 
sentery, at this period of the voyage, was another call 
on Mr. Martyn's pastoral assiduity ; a call to which he 
evinced no backwardness to attend. Often was he to 
be found by the beds of the sick, administering to them 
every temporal and spiritual comfort; till at length lie 
was himself seized by that contagious disorder. His 
illness was not of long duration, but was such as to 
make him think seriously of death, and employ him- 
self in the most solemn self-examination. On which 
occasion he had so much delight and joy in the con- 
sideration of heaven, and of his assured title to it, that 
he was more desirous of dying than living : not that 
it was any one thing that he had done (he remarks) 
that gave him substantial reason for thinking himself 
in Christ; it was the bent of his affections and inclina- 
tions towards God, and the taste he had for holy plea- 
sures and holy employments, which convinced him 
that he was born of God. 

No sooner had he recovered from this attack than he 
was again at his post, kneeling beside the hammocks 
of the dying. And amongst those who then required, 



140 



MEMOIR OF 



and received his faithful offices, was the captain of the 
ship, whose illness, though of a different kind from the 
prevailing one, was highly dangerous, and quickly ter- 
minated in his dissolution. 

And now as the year was drawing to a close, and 
the last Sabbath of it was come, Mr. Martyn addressed 
his hearers from 2 Pet. 3:11; " Seeing then that all 
these things shall be dissolved, what manner of per- 
sons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and god- 
liness?" in reference to their having left England, to 
their having passed through so many perils, to their 
being, many of them, about to meet an enemy in the 
field, and to the death of the captain. His own mind, 
which could not but be in an exceedingly serious frame, 
was also in a state of the purest joy and most perfect 
peace. " Separated," said he, " from my friends and 
country for ever, there is nothing to distract me from 
hearing c the voice of my beloved, 5 and coming away 
from this world, and walking with him in love, amidst 
the flowers that perfume the air of paradise, and the 
harmony of the happy, happy saints who are singing 
his praise. Thus hath the Lord brought me to the 
conclusion of the year ; and though I have broken his 
statutes, and not kept his commandments, yet he hath 
not utterly taken away his loving kindness, nor suf- 
fered his truth to fail. I thought, at the beginning of 
the year, that I should have been in India at this time, 
if I escaped all the dangers of the climate. These dan- 
gers are yet to come ; but I can leave all cheerfully to 
God. If I am weary of any thing, it is of my life ol 
sinfulness. I want a life of more devotion and holi- 
ness; and yet am so vain as to be expecting the end 



HENRY MARTYN. HI 

without the means. I am so far from regretting that I 
ever came on this delightful work, that, were I to 
choose for myself, I could scarcely find a situation 
more agreeable to my taste. On, therefore, let me go, 
and persevere steadily in this blessed undertaking; 
through the grace of God, dying daily to the opinions 
of men, and aiming, with a more single eye, at the 
glory of the everlasting God." 

On the second of January, 1806, whilst Mr. Martyn 
was in the act of commending his flock to God in 
prayer, the high lands of the Cape became visible, at 
eighty miles distance ; and doubtless they were not 
seen without exciting the strongest emotions in many 
hearts; numbers were soon there to assemble, who 
should meet no more tiJl all nations were gathered be- 
fore the tribunal of Chrjst 

On the third the fleet anchored, and the signal was 
instantly given for the soldiers to prepare to land. But 
how then was Mr. Martyn's holy and affectionate soul 
grieved, to witness the dreadful levity concerning death 
which almost universally prevailed ! " It was," said 
he, " a melancholy scene. I could speak to none of 

my people but to Corporal B , and ; I said also 

to Sergeant G , ' It is now high time to be de- 
cided in religion.' He replied with a sigh. Poor Cor- 
poral B and the others gave me a last affecting 

look after they were in the boats. I retired to pray, 
and found delightful access to God. and freedom in 
prayer for the poor soldiers." The Indiamen being 
then ordered to get under weigh, and the men of war 
drawn up close to the shore a landing was effected, 



142 MEMOIR OF 

and soon after seven the next day, as Mr. Martyn de- 
scribes it, " a most tremendous fire of artillery began 
behind a mountain abreast of the ships. It seemed as 
if the mountain itself was torn by intestine convul- 
sions. The smoke arose from a lesser eminence on 
the right of the hill ; and, on the top of it, troops were 
seen marching down the further declivity. Then came 
such a long-drawn fire of musketry that I could not 
conceive any thing like it. We all shuddered at con- 
sidering what a multitude of souls must be passing into 
eternity. The poor ladies were in a dreadful condition; 
every peal seemed to go through their hearts. I have 
just been endeavoring to do what I can to keep up 
their spirits. The sound is now retiring ; and the ene- 
my are seen retreating along the low ground on the 
right side towards the town." 

With the hope of being useful to the wounded and 
dying in the field of battle, Mr. Martyn, after this pe- 
riod of torturing suspense, went on shore; and in the 
following letter to Mr. Simeon, he states what he en- 
dured whilst engaged in this disinterested errand of 
love and mercy. 

" Union, Table Bay, Jan. 7, 1806. 
"I embraced the opportunity of getting to the 
wounded men, soon after my landing. A party of the 
company's troops were ordered to repair to the field 
of battle, to bring away the wounded, under the com- 
mand of Major , whom I knew. By his permis- 
sion I attached myself to them, and marched six miles 
over a soft burning sand, till we reached the fatal spot 
We found several but slightly hurt; and these we left 



HENRY MARTYN. 143 

for a while, after seeing their wounds dressed by a 
surgeon. A little onward were three mortally wound- 
ed. One of them, on being asked, c where he was 
struck,' opened his shirt and showed a wound in his 
left breast. The blood which he was spitting showed 
that he had been shot through the lungs. As I spread 
my great coat over him, by the surgeon's desire, who 
passed on without attempting to save him, I spoke ol 
the blessed Gospel, and besought him to look to Jesus 
Christ for salvation. He was surprised, but could not 
speak ; and I was obliged to leave him, in order to 
reach the troops, from whom the officers, out of re- 
gard to my safety, would not allow me to be separated. 
Among several others, some wounded and some dead, 

was Captain , who was shot by a rifleman. We 

all stopped for a while, to gaze, in pensive silence, on 
his pale body : and then passed on to witness more 
proofs of the sin and misery of fallen man. Descend- 
ing into the plain, where the main body of each army 
had met, I saw some of the 59th, one of whom, a cor- 
poral, who sometimes had sung with us, told me that 
none of the 59th were killed, and none of the officers 
wounded. Some farm-houses, which had been in the 
rear of the enemy's army, had been converted into an 
hospital for the wounded, whom they were bringing 
from all quarters. The surgeon told me that there 
were already in the houses two hundred, some of whom 
were Dutch. A more ghastly spectacle than that which 
presented itself here I could not have conceived. They 
were ranged, without and within the house, in rows 
covered with gore. Indeed, it was the blood which 
they had not had time to wash off that made their ap- 



144 MEMOIR OF 

pearance more dreadful than the reality ; for few of 
their wounds were mortal. The confusion was very 
great ; and sentries and officers were so strict in their 
duty, that I had no fit opportunity of speaking to any 
of them, except a Dutch captain, with whom I con- 
versed in French. After this I walked out again with 
the surgeon to the field, and saw several of the ene- 
my's wounded. A Hottentot, who had had his thigh 
broken by a ball, was lying in extreme agony, biting 
the dust and uttering horrid imprecations upon the 
Dutch. I told him that he ought to pray for his ene- 
mies ; and after telling the poor wretched man of the 
Gospel, I begged him to pray to Jesus Christ. But 
our conversation was soon interrupted ; for, in the ab- 
sence of the surgeon, who was gone back for his in- 
struments, a Highland soldier came by, and challenged 
me with the words, ' Who are you?' 'An Englishman.' 
1 No,' said he, ' you are French,' and began to present 
his piece. As I saw that he was rather intoxicated, 
and did not know but that he might actually fire out 
of mere wantonness, I sprang up towards him, and 
told him, that if he doubted my word, he might take 
me as his prisoner to the English camp — but that I 
certainly was an English clergyman. This pacified 
him, and he behaved with great respect. The surgeon 
on examining the wound, said the man must die, and 
so left him. At length I found an opportunity of re- 
turning, as I much wished, in order to recover from 
distraction of mind, and to give free scope to reflection 
I lay down on the border of a clump of shrubs or 
bushesj with the field of battle in view, and there lifted 
up my soul to God. Mournful as the scene was, I yet 



HENRY MARTY N. 145 

thanked God that he had brought me to see a speci- 
men, though a terrible one, of what men by nature 
are. May the remembrance of this day ever excite me 
to pray and labor more for the propagation of the Gos- 
pel of peace. Then shall men love one another: na- 
tion shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall 
they learn war any more. The Blue Mountains to the 
eastward, which formed the boundary of the prospects, 
were a cheering contrast to what was immediately 
before me ; for there I conceived my beloved and 
honored fellow-servants, companions in the kingdom 
and patience of Jesus Christ,* to be passing the days 
of their pilgrimage, far from the world, imparting the 
truths of the precious Gospel to benighted souls. May 
1 receive grace to be a follower of their faith and pa- 
tience ; and do you pray, my brother, as I know that 
you do, that I may have a heart more warm, and a 
zeal more ardent in this glorious cause. I marched 
back the same evening with the troops. The surf on 
the shore was very high, but, through mercy, we es- 
caped that danger. But when we came to our ship's 
station, we found that she was gone ; having got under 
weigh some hours before. The sea ran high. Our 
men were almost spent, and I was very faint with 
hunger; but after a long struggle we reached the In- 
diaman about midnight." 

For the detail of the events which succeeded this 
most distressing day, and the incidents which occurred 

* Missionaries of the United Brethren at Grcenckloof and 
Gnadentha 1 ., and those belonging to the London Missionary 
Society at Betkelsdorp* 

Maxtyu. J Q 



146 MEMOIR OF 

during his continuance at the Cape, we refer to the 
journal. 

January .9th. — " Came on board early this morning 
I was so sleepy and languid I could do little or no- 
thing ; and at night was so oppressed with a sense of 
my unprofitableness — selfishness — neglect of duty — 
that I felt shut out from God. I spread the matter be- 
fore God, who knew the state of my case ; still I was 
wretched from the bondage of corruption, which 
seemed to chain me down to earth. Lying down 
in my bed, my wretchedness was brought to my mind, 
and would have overwhelmed me, were it not for the 
blood of Jesus Christ. There was very little firing to- 
day. In the afternoon a flag of truce was observed." 

January 10. — " I have been, through the mercy of 
God, in a more happy frame than for this week past. 
Meditation on Psalm 103 : 1 — 5, was much blest to 
me. O what happiness and benefit to my soul have 1 
lost by neglecting to praise God. About five the com- 
modore fired a gun, which was instantly answered by 
all the men-of-war. On looking out for the cause, we 
saw the British flag flying on the Dutch Fort. Pleas- 
ing as the cessation of warfare was, I felt considerable 
pain at the enemy's being obliged to give up their fort 
and town, and every thing else, as a conquered peo- 
ple, to the will of their victor. I hate the cruel pride 
and arrogance that makes men boast over a conquered 
foe. And every observation of this sort which I hear 
cuts me to the very heart ; whether from natnre or 
from grace I do not know ; but I had rather be tram- 
pled upon than be the trampler. I could find it more 
agreeable to my own feelings to go and weep with the 



HENRY MARTY N. 147 

relatives of the men whom the English have killed, 
than to rejoice at the laurels they have won. I had a 
happy season in prayer. No outward scene seemed to 
have power to distract my thoughts. I prayed that the 
capture of the Cape might be ordered to the advance- 
ment of Christ's kingdom ; and that England, whilst 
she sent the thunder of her arms to the distant 
regions of the globe, might not be proud and ungodly 
at home ; but might show herself great indeed, by 
sending forth the ministers of Christ to diffuse the 
Gospel of peace." 

January 12. — Sunday. " Very unlike a Sabbath-day ; 
the whole morning, till dinner-time, was taken up in 
working the ship from her place to a station nearer 
the shore. There were so few hands on board, that I 
was obliged to take my place at the capstan. The 
wind now blows a hurricane over Table Mountain. I 
feel myself a guilty creature. Hide not thy face from 
me, O God." 

January 13. — " Went on shore to Cape Town and 
took lodgings. Walked about the Company's gardens, 
and General Jansen's, whose family I saw. I felt much 
for the unfortunate females. Afterwards saw the me- 
nagerie. A lion and lioness, amongst the beasts, and 
the ostrich, led my thoughts very strongly to admire 
and glorify the power of the great Creator. ' Wilt thou 
hunt the prey for the lion V I felt my insignificance ; 
but for a ransomed child, the strong hand of God can 
control all created power ; sweet and happy is it to 
have ' the everlasting arms underneath us.' From the 
first moment I arrived, I had been anxiously inquiring 
about Dr Vanderkemp. I heaid at last, to my no small 



148 MEMOIR OF 

delight, that he was now in Cape Town. But it was 
long before I could find him. At length I did. He was 
standing outside of the house, silently looking up at 
the stars. A great number of black people were sitting 
around. On my introducing myself, he led me in, 
and called for Mr. Read. I was beyond measure de- 
lighted at the happiness of seeing him too. The cir- 
cumstance of meeting with these beloved and highly 
honored brethren, so filled me with joy and gratitude 
for the goodness of God's providence, that I hardly 
knew what to do." 

January 14. — "Continued walking with Mr. Read 
till late. He gave me a variety of curious information 
respecting the mission. He told me of his marvellous 
success amongst the heathen ; how he had heard them 
amongst the bushes pouring out their hearts to God. 
At all this my ; soul did magnify the Lord, and my 
spirit rejoiced in God my Savior.' Now that I am in 
a land where the Spirit of God appears, as in the an- 
cient days, as in the generation of old, let a double 
portion of that Spirit rest upon this unworthy head, 
that I may go forth to my work ' rejoicing like a strong 
man to run my race.' " 

January 15. — " Rose early, and obtained a serene 
and tender spirit from God." 

January 16. — "Walked with brother Read, and was 
so charmed with his spiritual behavior that I fancied 
myself in company with David Brainerd. Sat at night 
in the open air, with Table Mountain before me, and 
endeavored to meditate on Isaiah, 11 : 2." 

January 17.—" Had some fervor in prayer for that 
blessed charity, described 1 Cor. 13. Walked with 



HENRY MARTY N. 149 

Read, and continued to increase in love to him; we 
met in our walk Vanderlinger, who had been on a 
mission to the Griquas." 

January 18. — "Having spoken in an unchristian 
spirit to a dear friend this morning, I retired in great 
grief to consider again 1 Cor. 13, and Eph. 4:5. 1 
found my soul melted in prayer. Oh ! when shall 1 
learn humility ! Cecil dined and walked with me ; not 
finding the missionaries at home, I returned and read 
Prideaux : after a short prayer I found my soul blest 
with a most serene and tranquil sweetness ; my 
thoughts seemed far from earth, and fixed on heavenly 
things." 

January 19. — Sunday. " The S. E. blew a hurri- 
cane all day ; so I could not get to the Pitt, Botany 
Bay ship, as I had promised. I attended worship, with 
most of the cadets and passengers, in one of the par- 
lors of the house, and expounded part of chapters 4 and 
5 of Ephesians. Visited the hospital with brother Read, 
and then went to a church lately built for the instruc- 
tion of slaves. There were about one hundred sent 
from fifty different families. A black, who was em- 
ployed in lighting the candles, was pointed out to me 
as one who was to go as a missionary to Madagascar." 

January 20. — " Walking home, I asked Dr. Vander- 
kemp if he had ever repented of his undertaking, No, 
said the old man, smiling ; and I would not exchange 
my work for a kingdom. Read told me of some of his 
trials ; he has often been so reduced for want of clothes, 
as scarcely to have any to cover him. The reasonings 
of his mind were: I am here, Lord, in thy service; 
why am I left in this state? It seemed to be suggested 



156 MEMOIR OF 

to him — If thou wilt be my servant, be contented to 
fare in this way ; if not, go and fare better. His mind 
was thus satisfied to remain God's missionary, with all 
its concomitant hardships. At night my sinful soul 
enjoyed a most reviving season in prayer ; I rejoiced 
greatly in the Lord, and pleaded with fervor for the 
interests of his church .'' 

January 21. — "I sent to the governor to offer my 
services on Sunday next at the church : he sent an 
immediate answer that he could not avail himself of 
my offer, but assigned no reason. I was a little hurt, 
but my soul enjoyed sweet repose in God." 

January 22. — ''Went with Read to visit the hospital 
where the wounded English were." 

January 23. — " Went on board, the S. E. blowing 
most violently ; I did not think the boat could live 
it out; but, through the mercy of God, we shipped but 
one sea, and reached the ship in safety, Oh ! may I 
love and serve him with all my soul, till I reach the 
blissful shore where storms and dangers shall be known 
no more." 

January 24. — "I came ashore and walked with Lieu- 
tenant F , and was much pleased with the senti- 
ments he expressed ; and with much affectionate regard 
for his welfare, I suggested to him some advice. At 
night the Lord helped me to plead long and earnestly 
for the ingathering of the heathen." 

January 25. — " Employed in meditations on a ser- 
mon for to-morrow ; sat with Dr. Vanderkemp, con- 
versing on metaphysics and divinity. Blessed with 
especial awfulness in prayer at night." 

January 26.— Sunday. " Had service in the house ; 



HENRY MARTYN. J 51 

expounhed on 2 Cor. 5, with such dullness that I felt 
the greatest shame before God. Walked near the sea, 
and talked to some French prisoners ; went with Reau 
to J he hospital, and left some Testaments. Dear Dr, 
V\Aderkemp gave me a Syriac Testament as a remem- 
} ance of him." 

January 27.—" Preached at the hospital. Many 
were in tears." 

January 28.—" I went this morning, in a wagon 
drawn by eight horses, to Constantia, with a party of 
fellow-passengers and three officers of the 66th ; but it 
was no party of pleasure to me. I was disgusted at 
the conversation, which was trifling to the last degree. 
The farmer was very civil, and gave me some of the 
celebrated wine. The road was over a plain covered 
with beautiful shrubs; there being no house there that 
was public, we went to one two miles off: here I walk- 
• ed on the heath alone, seeking after God. Walked 
with brother Read in the gardens, and continued to 
have much conversation on the mission, on our con- 
version, and on the work of grace in the heart. How 
profitable and heart-enlivening is conversation on ex- 
perimental religion, when carried on without pride or 
display of great experience ! Preached at the hos- 
pital. In my walk home by the sea-side, I sighed on 

thinking of L , with whom I had stood on the shore 

before coming away, and of the long seas that were 
rolling between us; but felt cheerful and strong in 
spirit to fulfill the word of God." 

January 30. — " Rose at five, and began to ascend 

Table Mountain at six, with S and M . I went 

on chiefly alone. I thought of the Christian life — 



152 MEMOIR OF 

what uphill work it is — and yet there are streams 
flowing down from the top, just as there was water 
coming down by the Kloof, by which we ascended. 
Towards the top it was very steep, but the hope of 
being soon at the summit encouraged me to ascend 
very lightly. As the Kloof opened, a beautiful flame- 
colored flower appeared in a little green hollow, wav- 
ing in the breeze. It seemed to be an emblem of the 
beauty and peacefulness of heaven, as it shall open 
upon the weary soul when its journey is finished, and 
the struggles of the death -bed are over. We walked 
up and down the whole length, which might be be- 
tween two and three miles, and one might be said to 
look round the world from this promontory. I felt a 
solemn awe at the grand prospect, from which there 
was neither noise nor small objects to draw off my at- 
tention. I reflected, especially when looking at the 
immense expanse of sea on the east, which was to 
carry me to India, on the certainty that the name of 
Christ should at some period resound from shore to 
shore. I felt commanded to wait in silence, and see 
how God would bring his promises to pass. We be- 
gan to descend at half past two. Whilst sitting to rest 
myself towards night, I began to reflect with death- 
like despondency on my friendless condition. Not that 
I wanted any of the comforts of life, but I wanted 
those kind friends who loved me, and in whose com^ 
pany I used to find such delight after my fatigues, 
And then, remembering that I should never see them 
more, I felt one of those keen pangs of misery that 
occasionally shoot across my breast. It seemed like a 
dream, that I had actually undergone banishment from 



HENRY MARTYN. 153 

them for life; or rather like a dream, that I had ever 
hoped to share the enjoyments of social life. But at 
this time I solemnly renewed my self-dedication to 
God, praying that I might receive grace to spend my 
days for his service, in continued suffering and sepa- 
ration from all I held most dear in this life. Amen. 
How vain and transitory are those pleasures which 
the worldliness of my heart will ever be magnifying 
into real good ! — The rest of the evening I felt wean- 
ed from the world and all its concerns, with some- 
what of a melancholy tranquillity." 

Jan. 31. — " From great fatigue of body, was in doubt 
about going to the hospital, and very unwilling to go: 
however, I went, and preached with more freedom 
than ever I had done there. Having some conversa- 
tion with Colonel H , I asked him ' whether, if the 

wound he had received in the late engagement had 
been mortal, his profaneness would have recurred with 
any pleasure to his mind on a death-bed V He made 
some attempts at palliation, though in great confu- 
sion ; but bore the admonition very patiently." 

February 1. — "As yesterday evening, so to-day — I 
was happy with God." 

February 2. — Sunday. "The purser of the William 
Pitt told me they were too busy to have service. Thus 
have these men contrived to prevent the word of God 
from being preached to the poor women, each Sun- 
day as it came." 

February 4. — " Read the Scriptures without a relish 
for them; and God's presence withdrawn. How dark 
and wretched this state of the soul I" 

February 5. — " Rose early ; walked out discouraged 



154 MEM01K OF 

at the small progress I made in the eastern languages. 
My state of bodily and mental indolence were becom- 
ing so alarming, that I struggled hard against both, 
crying to God for strength. Notwithstanding the re- 
luctance in my own heart, I went to the hospital and 
preached on Matt. 11:28; from this time I enjoyed 
peace and happiness. Dr. Yanderkemp called to take 
leave. I accompanied him and brother Smith out of 
the town, with their two wagons. The dear old man 
showed much affection, and gave me advice, and a 
blessing at parting. While we were standing to take 
leave, Koster, a Dutch missionary, was just entering 
the town with his bundle, having been driven from his 
place of residence. Brother Read also appeared from 
another quarter, though we thought he had gone to 
sea. These, with Yons* and myself, made six mis- 
sionaries, who, in a few minutes, all parted again." 

In the commencement of the voyage from the Cape, 
which took place not many days after this short but 
most interesting meeting, Mr. Martyn's patience was 
exercised, as before, by the tediousness of the passage, 
by sickness, and by languor. But whether tossed on 
that stormy sea which roars around the Cape, or be- 
calmed in the midst of the Indian ocean, or enfeebled 
by the recurrence of illness or extreme relaxation, he 
received all with the meekest resignation, as the spe- 
cial appointment of his God. 

The violent and increasing opposition he experi- 
enced from many of the more intelligent part of the 
passengers, and the discouraging inattention he tow 

* Probably the missionary destined for Madagascar. 



HENRY MARTY N. 155 

often perceived amongst the other class of his hearers, 
caused him to " grieve on their account, and to hum- 
ble himself before God." " I go down," he says, " and 
stand in the midst of a few, without their taking the 
slightest notice of me : Lord, it is for thy sake I suffer 
such slights — let me persevere notwithstanding." But 
though he mourned on their account, " he was con- 
tented to be left without fruit, if such were the will of 
God." Conscious of having delivered his message 
faithfully, and trusting that, with respect to both de- 
scriptions of his auditors, he had commended himself 
to their consciences if he had not reached their 
hearts, his own peace of mind was not affected : and 
he affirms that he was "as happy as he could be 
without more grace ; enjoying peaceful thoughts, ten- 
der recollections, and happy prospects." How could 
he fail of pleasantness and peace, when this was the 
genuine expression of the sentiments of his soul — " I 
am born for God only. Christ is nearer to me than fa- 
ther, or mother, or sister — a nearer relation, a more 
affectionate friend ; and I rejoice to follow him, and 
to love him. Blessed Jesus ! thou art all I want — a 
forerunner to me in all I ever shall go through as a 
Christian, a minister, or a missionary." 

The sickness with which the ship's company had 
been affected before reaching the Cape, prevailed now 
more extensively than ever. Many fell a sacrifice to 
the disorder ; and amongst others a devout soldier, 
with whom Mr. Martyn had often united in prayer 
and rraise, and had often conversed on the things of 
eternity. It was a mournful satisfaction to him to at- 
tend his Christian brother in his last illness, and after- 



156 MEMOIR OF 

wards to commit his body to the deep, in certain ex- 
pectation that the ' sea should give up her dead,' and 
he, with him, should enter into the joy of their Lord, 
" Thus," he says, " is my brother gone ; he, with whom 
I have conversed on divine things, and sung, and 
prayed, is entered into that glory of which we used to 
discourse. To his multiplied sorrows upon earth he 
has bid an everlasting adieu. May I follow his faith 
and patience till, with him, I inherit the promises." 

Falling in with the trade-winds, the fleet made rapid 
progress towards India ; and whilst the breezes wafted 
Mr. Martyn towards the destined scene of his labors, 
many a sigh did he continue to breathe under a sense 
of his own sinfulness and weakness ; and many a pe- 
tition did he pour forth for the people to whom he was 
sent. He felt it " good and suitable to w r alk through 
this world overwhelmed with contrition and love ; re- 
ceiving with grateful contentment every painful dis- 
pensation, because not worthy to enjoy the light of this 
world ;" praying that " God would glorify himself by 
the gifts and graces of all his creatures, and make him 
take his place at the bottom of them, unnoticed, un- 
known, and forgotten." — " Oh ! when the Spirit is 
pleased," said he, " to show his creature but a few 
scattered specimens of his ungodly days — yea, of his 
godly ones — how universally and desperately wicked 
doth he appear ! Oh ! that I knew how to be duly 
abased ! What shall I think of myself in comparison 
of others ? How ought I to kiss the very dust beneath 
their feet, from a consciousness of my inferiority ! and 
in my thoughts of God and his dealings with me, how 
ought I to be wrapped up in constant astonishment ! 



HENRY MARTYN. 157 

Then, after setting apart a day for fasting and humi- 
liation, he began to pray for the setting up of God's 
kingdom in the world, especially in India ; and had 
such energy and delight in prayer as he never had be- 
fore experienced. " My whole soul," he said, " wres- 
tled with God. I knew not how to leave off crying to 
him to fulfill his promises, chiefly pleading his own 
glorious power. I do not know that any thing would 
be a heaven to me but the service of Christ and the 
enjoyment of his presence. O how sweet is life when 
spent in his service ! I am going upon a work imme- 
diately according to the mind of Christ ; and my glo- 
rious Lord, whose power is uncontrollable, can easily 
open a way for his feeble follower through the thickest 
of the ranks of his enemies. And now, on let me go, 
smiling at my foes; how small are human obstacles 
before this mighty Lord ! How easy is it for God to 
effect his purposes in a moment ! What are inveterate 
prejudices when once the Lord shall set to his hand ! 
In prayer I had a most precious view of Christ as a 
friend that sticketh closer than a brother. O how 
sweet was it to pray to him ! I hardly knew how to 
contemplate with praise enough his adorable excel- 
lencies. Who can show forth all his praise ? I can con- 
ceive it to be a theme long enough for eternity. I want 
no other happiness, no other heaven. 55 With such holy, 
humble, and heavenly sentiments as these did Mr. 
Martyn approach the shores of Hindoostan ; and go- 
ing, as he was, into the vineyard of Bartholomew and 
Pantaenus, of Ziegenbalg and Swartz, it was in their 
spirit that he prepared to enter upon his labors. 
He now consecrated a day to prayer and fastirg, and 



J 68 MEMOIR OF 

represents himself as enjoying, throughout, a most 
blessed and serene view of Christ. The word of God 
was very sweet to him whilst reading the account of 
his sufferings and death. He was entirely withdrawn 
from all other concerns, and felt his soul cleaving to 
Christ his Savior. " In praying that God would no 
longer delay exerting his power in the conversion of 
the eastern nations, I felt emboldened," he observes, 
" to employ the most familiar petitions, by Isa. 62 : 6, 
7. Blessed be God for those words ! They are like a 
cordial to my spirits: because, if the Lord is not 
pleased by me, or during my life-time, to call the Gen- 
tiles, yet he is not offended at my being urgent with 
him that the kingdom of God may come." 

On the 19th of April Ceylon was discovered, which 
Mr. Martyn describes as presenting a long range of 
hills running north and south, broken in a picturesque 
manner, though not lofty, with low lands between the 
hills and sea, covered with trees: and whilst the 
breezes from the island regaled his senses by their 
soothing and refreshing fragrance, his mind was filled 
with a train of delightful anticipations ; he was think- 
ing of the time when the name of Jesus should be as 
ointment poured forth, in temples raised by Cingalese 
amidst their cinnamon groves; and when supplica- 
tions should there ascend like clouds of incense, 
through the merits of the Redeemer. 

The Sunday after this, presuming that it would be 
the last, Mr. Martyn addressed the ship's company in 
a farewell discourse. The occasion, it might have been 
conceived, was such as to preclude any disposition to 
ridicule, even in men pre-eminently disposed to scoff- 



HENRY MARTY N. 159 

ing and contempt. But those who had reviled him at 
first, continued to revile him to the very last. "I* 
pained me," he remarked, " that they should give a 
ridiculous turn to any thing on so affecting an occa- 
sion as that of parting for ever in this life. But such 
is the unthankful office of a minister. Yet I desire to 
take the ridicule of men with all meekness and charity, 
looking forward to another world for approbation and 
reward. 5 ' 

And now, after a wearisome interval of above nine 
months from the time of his leaving Portsmouth, the 
land which Mr. Martyn had so ardently longed to be- 
hold appeared. On the 21st of April, 1806, "his eyes 
Were gratified with the sight of India." 

April 22. — " At sunrise we anchored," he says, " in 
Madras roads. Several doolbashes, or interpreters, came 
on board, dressed in white muslin. I went ashore in 
one of the country boats, made very high in order to 
weather the surf, with the boards throughout sewed 
together very coarsely with straw, and the interstices 
filled with it. On shore I was surrounded by an im- 
mense crowd of coolies, I suppose two hundred, who 
caught up one box after another, and were going o£ 
in different directions, so that I was obliged to run in- 
stantly and stop them ; and having with some difficulty 
got my things together, I went to the custom-house 
attended by four coolies, a doolbashee, an umbrella- 
carrier, and a boy or waiting-man ; all of whom at- 
tached themselves to me, without at ail consulting me 
on the occasion. Nothing as yet struck me as remark- 
able in the country, for the novelty of it had been an- 
ticipated in what I had seen at St. Salvador. The 



160 MEMOIR OF 

number of black people was immense, and the crowd 
of servants so great, that one would suppose they 
thought themselves made for the service of the English* 
The elegance of their manners I was much taken with ; 
but, in general, one thought naturally occurred — the 
conversion of their poor souls. I felt a solemn sort of 
melancholy at the sight of such multitudes of idola- 
ters. While the turbaned Asiatics about a dozen of 
them, waited upon us at dinner, I could not help feeling 
as if we had got into their places. But, now that I am 
actually treading Indian ground, let me bless and adore 
my own God for doing so much for me ; and O ! if I 
live, let me have come hither for some purpose." 

April 26. — " Towards night I walked out with 
Samees, my servant, in a pensive mood; and went 
through his native village, Chindaput. Here all was 
Indian — no vestige of any thing European. It con- 
sisted of about two hundred houses — those in the 
main street connected, and those on either side of the 
street separated from one another by little winding 
paths. Every thing presented the appearance of 
wretchedness. I thought of my future labors among 
them with some despondency ; yet I am willing, I 
trust, through grace, to pass my days among them, if 
by any means these poor people may be brought to 
God. The sight of men, women, and children, all idol- 
aters, makes me shudder, as if in the dominions of the 
prince of darkness. I fancy the frown of God is visit- 
ble — there is something peculiarly awful in the still- 
ness that prevails. Whether it is the relaxing influence 
of the climate, or what, I do not know ; but there is 
every thing here to depress the spirits— all nature 
droops." 



HENRY MART\N 16] 

April 27. — Sunday. " Enjoyed some solemn mo 
rnents this morning. This is my first Sabbath in In- 
dia. May all the time I pass in it be a Sabbath of hea- 
venly rest and blessedness to my soul ! Preached on 
Luke, 10 : 41, 42; there was attention. After dinner 
went to Black-town to Mr. Loveless's chapel. I sat in 
the air at the door, enjoying the blessed sound of the 
Gospel on an Indian shore, and joining with much 
comfort in the song of divine praise." 

April 28. — " Had much conversation with Dr. Kerr. 
At night the Portuguese children sung ' Before Jeho- 
vah's awful throne ' very sweetly : it excited a train 
of affecting thoughts in my mind. ' Wide as the world 
is thy command,' and therefore it is easy for thee to 
spread abroad thy holy name. But O how gross the 
darkness here ! The veil of the covering cast over all 
nations seems thicker here: the fiends of darkness 
seem to sit in sullen repose in this land." 

April 30. — " Walked by moonlight, reflecting on the 
mission. My soul was at first sore tried with despond- 
ing thoughts ; but God wonderfully assisted me to 
trust him for the wisdom of his dispensations. Truly, 
therefore, will I say again, ' Who art thou, O great 
mountain ; before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a 
plain.' How easy for God to do it; and it shall be 
done in due time : and even if I never should see a na- 
tive converted, God may design^ by my patience and 
continuance in the work to encourage future missiona- 
ries. But what surprises me is the change of views I 
have here from what I had in England. There, my 
heart expanded with hope and joy at the prospect of 
the speedy conversion of the heathen ; but here, the 

Martj-n. 1 1 



162 MEMOIR OF 

sight of the apparent impossibility requires a strong 
faith to support the spirits." 

After being detained a short time at Madras, the 
fleet sailed for the Hoogley ; during which voyage Mr. 
Martyn again suffered indescribably from the relaxa- 
tion of his frame. He rose in the morning with the 
deepest melancholy, and seemed, as he expressed it, 
left without a motive. " He looked forward to an idle, 
worthless life spent in India to no purpose. Exertion 
seemed to him like death — indeed absolutely impossi- 
ble." But it pleased God at length to give him deliver- 
ance, by enabling him to exercise faith, and to remem- 
ber that, as a sinner saved, he was bound to evince the 
most fervent gratitude to God. 

The great pagoda of Juggernaut, now becoming 
distinctly visible, was a sight sufficient to rouse Mr. 
Martyn from almost any depths of depression, either 
of body or mind. Contemplating that horrid altar of 
impurity and blood, his soul was excited to sentiments 
of the strongest commiseration for the children of 
wretched India, " who had erected such a monument 
of her shame on the coast, and whose heathenism star- 
ed the stranger in the face." 

Leaving Juggernaut behind, a tremendous hurri- 
cane, such as is often experienced in those latitudes, 
descended on the fleet, and in an instant every sail oi 
the Union was rent in pieces. All was uproar in the 
ship ; nor was there any resource but to run before the 
gale ; which, had they been further on their way, 
must have driven them upon some sand-banks at the 
mouth of the Hoogley.* Incessant lightning rendered 

* The western arm of the Ganges, on which Calcutta is si 
tuated. 



HENRY MARTYN. 163 

the scene still more dreadful. When nature began to 
shrink at the fear of dissolution, Mr. Martyn was much 
reconciled, he says, to it, by such thoughts as these : 
" What have I here 1 Is it not better to go, and to be 
with Jesus, and to be free from this body of sin and 
death? But for the sake of the poor unconverted souls 
in the ship," he adds, " I prayed earnestly for her pre- 
servation." 

To this danger, from which Mr. Martyn was merci- 
fully delivered, another of a yet more formidable na- 
ture succeeded, when he had entered the mouth of the 
Hoogley, and was rejoicing in the happy termination 
of an eventful voyage. 

On the 14th of May the Union struck on a sand- 
bank near the diamond harbor, where her situation 
was awfully dangerous; for night came on and the 
wind increased. The vessel was considered by the 
captain as lost, and all the passengers were in the ut- 
most terror. Mr. Martyn " retired for prayer, and 
found his soul in peace :" nor was the fervent prayer 
of this righteous man ineffectual. After continuing in 
extreme peril for two hours, the ship very unexpect- 
edly floated into deep water. Thus being yet more 
deeply convinced that in God and in his hand were 
all his ways, and having his heart humbled in thank- 
fulness to him as the author of all his mercies, Mr. 
Martyn arrived at Calcutta ; from whence he thus dis- 
closed the sentiments of his heart to a beloved Chris- 
tian friend : — 

" My long and wearisome voyage is concluded, and 
I am at last arrived in the country in which I am to 
spend my days in the work of the Lord. Scarcely can 



164 MEMOIR OF 

I believe myself to be so happy as to be actually in 
India ; yet this hath God wrought. Through changing 
climates and tempestuous seas he has brought on his 
feeble worm to the field of action, and will, I trust, 
speedily equip me for my work. I am now very fai 
from you all, and as often as I look around and view 
the Indian scenery, I sigh to think of the distance that 
separates us. Time, indeed, and reflection have, un- 
der God, contributed to make the separation less 
painful; yet still my thoughts recur with unceasing 
fondness to former friendships, and make the duty ot 
intercession for you a happy privilege. Day and night 
T do not cease to pray for you, and I am willing to 
hope that you also remember me daily at the throne 
of grace. Let us not, by any means, forget one ano- 
ther, nor lose sight of the day of our next meeting. 
We have little to do with the business of this world. 
Place and time have not that importance in our views 
that they have in those of others; and therefore nei- 
ther changes of situation nor lapse of years should 
weaken our Christian attachment. I see it to be my 
business to fulfill, as a hireling, my day, and then to 
leave the world. Amen. We shall meet in happier re- 
gions. I believe that those connections, and comforts, 
and friendships which I have heretofore so desired, 
though they are the sweetest earthly blessings, are 
earthly still." 



HENRY MARTYN. 



CHAPTER V. 

ARRIVAL AT CALCUTTA RESIDENCE AND ILLNESS AT ALDEKN— 

PREACHES AT CALCUTTA OPPOSITION ENCOUNTERED — IS AP» 

POINTED TO DINAPORE — LEAVES CALCUTTA— VOYAGE UP THk 
HOOGLEY AND GANGES. 

For many years supplications had incessantly as- 
cended up to heaven from Christians in India, for the 
spiritual prosperity of that benighted land ; and for a 
considerable time a stated weekly meeting had been 
held at Calcutta, on the recommendation of Dr. Bu- 
chanan and Mr. Brown, for the express purpose of 
beseeching the Lord to send forth laborers into those 
fields which were white unto the harvest. What a 
manifest answer to these petitions was the appearance 
of Mr. Martyn amongst those who had been thus offering 
up their prayers ! One of these,* a name dear to all 
who admire zeal, integrity, liberality, and an entire 
consecration of the brightest talents to the cause of 
Christian philanthropy, was now about to commence 
his researches into the state of religion amongst the 
Syrian Christians ; and the ship which conveyed him 
on that interesting errand, left the mouth of the Hoog- 
ley as the Union entered it. To him, doubtless, the 
sight of Mr. Martyn would have seemed an answer to 
prayer demanding the warmest thanksgiving ; the 
voice of a Christian missionary would have been 
sweeter in his ears than even those sounds which he 

* Dr. Buchanan 



106 MEMOIR OF 

afterwards heard in Travancore, from the bells amongse 
the hills, and which reminded him of another country. 

At Aldeen, near Calcutta, the residence of the Rev. 
David Brown, Mr. Martyn was received and welcomed 
with all that cordiality of affection which characterizes 
the genuine servants of the Lord Jesus. Finding in 
him a spirit eminently congenial with his own, he 
gladly became one of his dear family, as he expresses 
it, and his days passed delightfully. In order that he 
might enjoy as much retirement as he deemed neces- 
sary, Mr- Brown prepared a pagoda for his habitation ; 
which was situate on the edge of the river, at no great 
distance from the house. There the vaulted roof was 
so changed from its original destination as often to 
re-echo the voice of prayer and the songs of praise; 
and Mr. Martyn triumphed and rejoiced " that the 
place where once devils were worshipped, was now 
become a Christian oratory." 

Soon after his being fixed at Aldeen, his affectionate 
friends there became seriously alarmed at an attack 
of fever which he experienced. His illness was of some 
continuance, and in it he was assaulted by a tempta- 
tion more dangerous than uncommon — a temptation 
to look to himself for some qualification with which to 
approach the Savior — for something to warrant his 
confidence in him, and hope of acceptance from him. 
Searching for evidences for the purpose of ascertain- 
ing whether we are in Christ, widely differs from 
searching for them to warrant a boldness of access to 
Christ: for this we require no evidence, but need 
only the passport of faith and the plea of our own 
wretchedness : and as it is the design of our great ad- 



HENRY MARTYN- 167 

versary (such is his subtlety) to lead us to deny the 
evidences of faith altogether ; so it is his purpose to 
betray us into a legal and mistaken use of them. We 
find Mr. Martyn at this time expressing himself thus ■ 
" I could derive no comfort from reflecting on my past 
life. Indeed, exactly in proportion as I looked for evi- 
dences of grace, I lost that brokenness of spirit which 
I wished to retain, and could not lie with simplicity a! 
the foot of the cross. I really thought that I was de- 
parting this life. I began to pray as on the verge of 
eternity : and the Lord was pleased to break my hard 
heart. I lay in tears, interceding for the unfortunate 
natives of this country \ thinking with myself that the 
most despicable soodar of India was of as much value 
in the sight of God as the king of Great Britain." 

So pleasantly and sweetly, after his recovery, did the 
current of Mr. Martyn's days pass on at Aldeen and 
Calcutta, that he began to fear lest the agreeable so- 
ciety he met with there should induce a softness of 
mind and an indisposition to solitude and bold exer- 
tion. Of this society he remarks, " I felt sometimes 
melancholy at the thought that I should soon be de- 
prived of it. But alas ! why do I regret it ? Sweet is 
human friendship — sweet is the communion of saints — 
but sweeter far is fellowship with God on earth, and 
the enjoyment of the society of his saints in heaven." 

The city of Calcutta was a place so evidently suited 
to that order of talent with which Mr. Martyn was en- 
dowed, that it is not to be wondered that the solicita- 
tions of his Christian friends there should pour in upon 
him at this time, with the view of persuading him to 
continue among them in a sphere which they con- 



168 MEMOIR OF 

sidered so well adapted for the exercise of his minis- 
try. But it was truly said of him by one,* now before 
the throne with him in the world of light, that " he 
had a spirit to follow the steps of Brainerd and Swartz ;" 
and " to be prevented from going to the heathen," he 
himself remarked on this occasion, " would almost 
have broken his heart." 

In the vicinity of Aldeen, indeed, he witnessed, with 
horror, the cruel rites and debasing idolatries of hea- 
thenism. The blaze of a funeral pile caused him one 
day to hasten to endeavor, if possible, to rescue an un 
fortunate female, who was consumed, however, before 
he could reach the spot. In a dark wood, at no great 
distance from Serampore, he heard the sound of the 
cymbals and drums, summoning the poor natives to 
the worship of devils — sounds which pierced his heart; 
and before a black image, placed in a pagoda, with 
lights burning around it, he beheld his fellow crea- 
tures prostrating themselves, with their foreheads to 
the earth — a sight which he contemplated with an over- 
whelming compassion, whilst " he shivered," he says, 
" as if standing, as it were, in the neighborhood of hell. 5 

Scenes so affecting as these might have pleaded with 
him effectually in favor of the proposition of his friends, 
had he not remembered that all these things happened 
at no great distance from Aldeen, Serampore, and Cal- 
cutta, from whence many a holy man of God had al- 
ready come forth, and would again come forth, crying 
out to the wretched idolaters, " Why do ye such 
things?" — "behold the Lamb of God, which taketh 
away the sin of the world." 

* Dr. Buchanan— Christian Researches, 



HENRY MARTYN. 1G9 

Detained, as Mr. Marty n unavoidably was, at this 
time, from what he considered his especial employ- 
ment, he applied himself more ardently than ever to 
the acquisition of Hindoostanee, availing himself ol 
the assistance of a Cashmirian Brahmin, whom he 
wearied with his unceasing assiduity. He was also 
instant in preaching the Gospel to his countrymen, 
both in the Mission Church, and in the New Church 
in Calcutta. 

His first discourse in the New Church, on 1 Cor, 
1 : 23, 24, occasioned a great sensation ; of a kind very 
different, indeed, from that which he heartily desired, 
but still one which, from the treatment to which he 
had been accustomed on board the ship, he was not 
unprepared to expect. 

The plain exhibition of the doctrines of the Gospel 
was exceedingly offensive to many of his hearers. Nor 
did the ferment thus excited subside quickly, as it 
often does, into pity or contempt. He had the pain, 
very shortly after, of being personally attacked from 
the pulpit by some of his brethren, whose zeal hurried 
them into the violation not only of an express canon 
of the church, but of the yet higher law of Christian 
charity ; and led them to make an intemperate attack 
upon him, and upon many of the truths of the Gospel. 
Even when he was himself present in church, Mr. 

spoke with sufficient plainness of him and of his 

doctrines, calling them inconsistent, extravagant, and 
absurd ; drawing a vast variety of false inferences from 
them, and thence arguing against them; declaring, for 
instance, that to affirm repentance to be the gift of 
God, and to teach that nature is wholly corrupt, was 



170 MEMOIR OF 

to drive men to despair: and that to suppose the 
righteousness of Christ sufficient to justify, is to make 
it unnecessary to have any of our own. Though com- 
pelled to listen to such downright heresies ; to hear 
himself described as knowing neither what he said 
nor whereof he affirmed, and as aiming only to gratify 
self-sufficiency, pride, and uncharitableness. — " I re- 
joiced," said this meek and holy man, "to receive the 
Lord's supper afterwards, as the solemnities of that 
blessed ordinance sweetly tended to soothe any aspe- 
rity of mind ; and I think that I administered the cup 
to and , with sincere good will." When ex- 
posed to a similar invective from another preacher, 
who commenced a public opposition to him — by de- 
nouncing his last sermon, in particular, as a rhapsody 
— as unintelligible jargon, as an enigma ; declaring 
that the Epistles of St. Paul were addressed to hea- 
then alone, and that if the Apostle could look down 
from heaven and see what use was made of his words 
to distress and agitate the minds of men, he would 
grieve at such perversions — and who, in addition to 
this, pointedly addressed Mr. Martyn, and charged 
him with the guilt of distressing and destroying those 
for whom Christ died ; with taking away their only 
hope, and driving them to mopishness, melancholy 
and despair — and finally, with depriving them of the 
only consolation they could have on a death-bed — He 
again observes, " We received the Lord's supper, and I 
was glad of the blessed ordinance, as it tended much 
to compose my mind, and to soften it into compassion 
and love towards all mankind." 
But if Mr. Martyn had abundant reasons to be grieved 



HENRY MARTYN. 171 

and pained at the conduct of some of his brethren at 
Calcutta, he had no small satisfaction in the wise and 
temperate line pursued by another chaplain, in this 
season of doubtful and distressing disputation ; who, 
perceiving that the doctrines of the church of England 
were becoming a matter of warm and general contro- 
versy, adopted the admirable plan of simply reading 
the Homilies to the congregation; thus leaving the 
church to speak for herself, and affording to all classes 
an opportunity of deciding which of the parties was 
mosUn accordance with her formularies, Mr. Marty n 

or his opposers. "Mr. ," he says, "to the great 

satisfaction of all serious people, after stating the di- 
versity of opinion which had lately prevailed in the 
pulpit, began to read a Homily by way of sermon :" 

and again, "At the New Church I read and Mr. 

preached the second and third parts of the ■ Homily 
on Salvation.' The clear exhibition of divine truth 
which was thus presented, was very rejoicing to our 
hearts." 

Attached as Mr. Martyn was to the Church of Eng- 
land, he was far from either the apathy or the jealousy 
in which too many are apt to indulge respecting the 
interests of other Christian communities. Very deci- 
dedly did he dhTer in some important points from his 
Baptist brethren. But it was with the sincerest grief 
that he heard, during his abode at Aldeen, of an order 
issued by the government (rescinded afterwards) to 
prevent their preaching and distributing tracts. So 
perplexed and excited was he by the intelligence, that 
it even deprived him of sleep ; and he spoke after- 
wards with so much vehemence against the measures 



172 MEMOIR OF 

of government, as, upon reflection, to afford him mat- 
ter of self-condemnation. " I know not," he said, 
" what manner of spirit I am of; I fancy it is all zeal 
for God; but what a falsehood is this? I am severe 
against a governor, not making allowances for what 
he knows. ! does it become me to be judging 
others? Did Jesus canvass the proceedings of go- 
vernment in the spirit of one of this world ? I pray to 
be preserved from ever falling into this snare again. 
May I, with poverty of spirit, go on my way, and ne- 
ver again trouble myself with what does not belong 
to me ! I trust I shall be able to distinguish between 
zeal and self-will. Let me never fancy I have zeal till 
my heart overflows with love to every man living." 

On the 13th of September, 1806, Mr. Martyn receiv- 
ed his appointment to Dinapore ; by which time, not- 
withstanding all his vigilance, the comforts of the life 
he had been leading had so far won upon him, that he 
suffered much at the thoughts of his removal. " It is 
an awful and an arduous thing," said he, " to root out 
every affection for earthly things, so as to live for an- 
other world. I was astonished at the attachment I felt 
for earthly things. The happiness of invisible and 
eternal things seemed something like a dream — the 
faint remains of what I had formerly known. In great 
melancholy I determined before God to leave this 
wretched world once more ; but my soul was great- 
ly cast down ; the affections were entwined around 
something or other here ; so that it appeared like death 
to be torn from it." So far, however, was he from 
yielding to selfishness or sloth, that, as the day of his 
departure drew near, he stirred himself up to the 



HENRY MARTYN. 173 

consideration of the greatness of his calling, and pant- 
ing to begin his work. 

At the beginning of October Mr. Martyn prepared 
to leave that Christian family, in the bosom of which 
he had received such unremitted kindness; but not 
before he had welcomed the joyful arrival of two fel- 
low-laborers from England, who, following his bright 
track, and imitating his self-denying example, had 
turned their backs on the beloved land of their nativi- 
ty. This was an inexpressible joy to his heart. "I 
went down " he says in his journal " to Calcutta, 
where we had the happiness of meeting our dear 
brethren. I rode out with them in the evening, and 
passed most of the time in conversing about European 
friends." And when afterwards he heard one of them 
(Mr. Corrie) preach, he thus expresses himself: " God 
be praised for another witness to his truth. O may 
abundant grace and gifts rest on my beloved brother, 
that the works of God may show themselves forth in 
him." By these various circumstances, together with 
the letters which at the same time he received from 
those to whom he was so attached in England, his af- 
fections of love and joy were excited to such a degree 
as to prove almost too much for his frame. 

A few days before he left Aldeen, several of Mr. 
Martyn's friends came together to his pagoda, in order 
that they might unite with him in imploring a bless- 
ing on his intended labors. Such a meeting could not 
fail of being highly interesting, and was not the less so 
from a recollection of the place in which they were 
assembled — a Christian congregation, in a building 
which once had been an idol temple, seemed to suppl) 



174 MEMOIR OF 

a consolatory pledge, as well as a significant emblem, 
of what all earnestly prayed for, and confidently antici- 
pated for poor idolatrous India. " My soul," said Mr. 
Martyn, " never yet had such divine enjoyment. I felt 
a desire to break from the body and join in the high 
praises of the saints above. May I go ' in the strength 
of this many days.' Amen. 'My soul doth magnify 
the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Sa- 
vior.' How sweet to walk with Jesus — to love him — 
and to die for him! 'Surely goodness and mercy shall 
follow me ail the days of my life ; and I will dwell in 
the house of the Lord for ever.' " And again, the next 
day, he says, "The blessed God has again visited my 
soul in his power, and all that was within me blessed 
his holy name. I found my heaven begun on earth. 
No work so sweet as that of praying and living wholly 
to the service of God." 

On the 15th of October, after taking leave of the 
church at Calcutta in a farewell discourse, and of the 
family at Aldeen in an exposition at morning worship, 
Mr. Martyn entered his budgerow,* which was to con- 
vey him to Dinapore ; and sailed up the Ganges, ac- 
companied by his brethren, Mr. Brown, Mr. Corrie, 
and Mr. Parsons. Mr. Marshmanj seeing them pass 
by the mission house, could not resist joining the party ; 

* A budgerow is " a traveling boat constructed like a plea- 
sure barge. Some have cabins fourteen feet wide, and pro- 
portionably long, and draw from four to five feet of water. 
From seventeen to twenty miles a day is the greatest distance 
a lr.rge budgerow can be towed against the stream during the 
fair season." — Rennel. 

t One of the Baptist Missionaries. 



HENRY MARTYN. 175 

and after going a little way, left them with prayer. At 
night, Mr. Martyn prayed with his brethren in the 
vessel; and the next day they devoted the whole 
morning to religious exercises. " How sweet is pray- 
er," said he, " to my soul at this time ! I seem as if I 
could never be tired, not only of spiritual joys, but of 
spiritual employments, since these are now the same." 

The day after, the weather becoming tempestuous, 
his brethren sorrowfully and reluctantly left him to 
prosecute his voyage alone. Before they parted, how- 
ever, they spent the whole morning (to use his own 
words) in a divine ordinance, in which each of them 
read a portion of Scripture, and all of them sang and 
prayed. " Mr. Brown's passage, chosen from the 1st 
of Joshua, was very suitable," said Mr. Martyrr^ Have 
I not sent thee V " Let this be an answer to my fears, 
O my Lord, and an assurance that I am in th)^ work ; 
and that therefore I shall not go forth at my own 
charges, or fight any enemies but thine. It was a very 
affecting season to me : but in prayer I was far from 
a state of seriousness and affection." 

" I was left alone," he writes, October 17, in his 
journal, "for the first time with none but natives. The 
wind and rain became so violent* that the men let the 
budgerow stay upon shore the whole day ; and in con- 
sequence of beating on the ground, it leaked so much 
that the men were obliged to be in my cabin to bale 

* The north-westers are the most formidable enemies that 
are to be met with in this inland navigation ; whole fleets of 
trading boats have been sunk by them almost instantaneously. 
But it is in the great rivers alone, when increased in width, that 
they are the most formidable.-- Rennel. 



176 MEMOIR OF 

her. Read with the Moonshee one of the tracts which 
he had himself translated from the Bengalee into verse. 
Perceiving him to be alarmed at the violence of the 
waves beating against the boat, I began to talk to him 
about religion. He began by saying, ' May God be our 
protector :' this was a favorable beginning. The hur- 
ricane abated before midnight, through mercy." 

Oct. 18. — " Reading hard all day ; wrote out a list 
of the errata in one of the tracts, and read Sanscrit 
grammar. In the evening walked along the bank with 
my gun, and fired at some wild fowl, which the ser- 
vants ate. At night, read part of a Nagree tract with 
the Moonshee. Learnt some Arabic roots. Felt an oc- 
casional depression of spirits; but prayer instantly 
removed it ; so that, in general, I was near to God, and 
happy." 

Oct. 19. — Sunday. " The first solitary Sabbath spent 
amongst the heathen: but my soul not forsaken of 
God. The prayers of my dear friends were instant for 
me this day, I well perceive : and a great part of my 
prayer was occupied in delightful intercession for 
them. The account of the fall of man, in the third 
chapter of Genesis, and of his restoration by Christ, 
was unspeakably affecting to my soul. Indeed, every 
thing I read seemed to be carried home to my soul 
with ineffable sweetness and power by the Spirit ; and 
all that was within me blessed his holy name. In the 
afternoon, sent to the Moonshee, that he might hear the 
Gospel read, or read it himself. Began St. Mark ; but 
our conversation turning from Christianity to Moham- 
medanism, became deadening to my spirit. Our course 
to-day was along the eastern bank, which seems to 



HENRY MARTYN. 177 

have been lately the bed of the river, and is bare of 
trees for a considerable distance from the water. The 
western bank is covered with wood. In my evening 
walk saw three skeletons." 

Oct. 20. — "Employed all the day in translating the 
first chapter of the Acts into Hindoostanee. I did it 
with some care ; and wrote it all out in the Persian 
character ; yet still I am surprised I do so little. In 
my morning w r alk shot a bird with a beautiful plu- 
mage, called a Culean ; and in the evening a large 
bird, called a Minca. Putting my gun into the boat, 
I walked into the village where the boat stopped for 
the night, and found the worshippers of Cali by the 
sound of their drums and cymbals. I did not think of 
speaking to them, on account of their being Bengalees. 
But, being invited by the Brahmins to walk in, I en- 
tered within the railing, and asked a few questions 
about the idol. The Brahmin, who spoke bad Hin- 
doostanee, disputed with great heat, and his tongue 
ran faster than I could follow ; and the people, who 
were about one hundred, shouted applause. But I con- 
tinued to ask my questions, without making any re- 
marks upon the answers. I asked, among other things, 
whether w T hat I had heard of Vishnu and Brahma was 
true ; which he confessed. I forbore to press him 
with the consequences, which he seemed to feel ; and 
then I told him what was my belief. The man grew 
quite mild, and said it was chula bat (good words ;) 
and asked me seriously, at last, what I thought— Was 
idol-worship true or false ? I felt it a matter of thank- 
fulness that I could make known the truth of God 
Chough but a stammerer : and that I had declared it in 

Afartyn. jo 



178 MEMOIR OF 

the presence of the devil. And this also I learnt, that 
the power of gentleness is irresistible. I never was 
more astonished than at the change in the deportment 
of this hot-headed Brahmin. Read the Sanscrit* gram- 
mar till bed-time." 

Oct. 21. — " Morning at Sanscrit, without gaining 
any ground. Afternoon, with my Moonshee, correct- 
ing Acts 1 ; and felt a little discouraged at finding I 
still wrote so incorrectly ; though much pleased at his 
great apparent desire of having it perfectly accurate. 
Though not joyful in my spirit, as when my friends 
left me, I feel my God to be an all-satisfying portion, 
and find no want of friends. Read Genesis and Luke 
at night in the Septuagint and Hindoostanee. Came 
to at a desert place on the western bank." 

Oct. -22. — "Shot a bird somewhat larger than a 
woodcock, but like it in taste, and a snipe. The Mu- 
salchee who attended me, seeing an old man who had 
caught some fish, made a requisition of them. The 
old man understood the Musalchee's meaning better 
than I did, for he began to entreat me, saying ! he 
was a poor man,' and was quite overjoyed to find that 
I had not given an order to plunder him, but meant to 
pay. I then recollected what Mr. Brown told me of 
the custom the servants have of making requisitions 
from the natives in the name of their English masters. 
Alas! poor natives, how accustomed they are to in- 
justice ! They cannot believe their English masters to 
be better than their Mohammedan ones." 

" A Brahmin of my own age was performing his de- 

* The common source of the Hindoo languages. 



HENRY MARTYN. 179 

votions to Gunga early this morning, when I was go- 
ing to prayer. My soul was struck with the sovereignty 
of God, who out of pure grace, had made such a dif- 
ference in all the external circumstances of our lives. 

let not that man's earnestness rise up in judgment 
against me at the last day. In the afternoon they 
were performing the ceremony of throwing the effi- 
gies of Cali, collected from several villages, into the 
river ; in addition to the usual music, there were trum- 
pets. The objects of worship, which were figures in 
relief on the sector of a circle of about one hundred 
and twenty degrees, most gorgeously bedecked with 
tinsel, w T ere kept under a little awning in their respec- 
tive boats. As the budgerow passed through the boats, 
they turned so as to present the front of their goddess 
to me, and at the same time blew a blast with their 
trumpet, evidently intending to gratify me with a sight 
of what appeared to them so fine. Had their employ- 
ment been less impious, I should have returned the 
compliment by looking ; but I turned away. Yet I 
felt no tenderness of grief; nor in the morning did I 
feel any thing like due thankfulness for God's electing 
mercy in making me thus to differ from the Brahmins. 

1 have daily and hourly proofs of my corruption : for 
when does my heart come up to what my half-enlight- 
ened understanding approves ? Yet I intend, through 
grace, to continue praying to the end for their poor 
precious souls, and that the kingdom of God may be 
set up here." 

" Came-to on the eastern bank, below a village call- 
ed Ahgadeep. Wherever I walked, the women fled 
at the sight of me. Some men were sitting under the 



180 MEMOIR OF 

shed dedicated to their goddess, and a lamp was burn- 
ing in her place. A conversation soon began, but 
there was no one who could speak Hindoostanec, so 
all I could say was by the medium of my Mussulman 
Musalchee. They said that they only did as others 
did ; and that if they were wrong, then all Bengal was 
wrong. I felt love for their souls, and longed for ut- 
terance to declare unto those poor simple people the 
holy Gospel. 1 think that when my mouth is opened 
I shall preach to them day and night. I feel that they 
are my brethren in the flesh — precisely on a level 
with myself." 

" In the morning upon Sanscrit, though still quite 
in the dark. Afternoon with the Moonshee." 

Oct. 23. — " The tow-rope broke, and we were hur- 
ried down the stream with great rapidity, the stream 
running seven miles an hour. We ran foul of several 
targe boats, and I expected we should go to pieces. 
The people of the other boats would not afford the 
least help; so the Mangee and his assistant jumped 
overboard with a rope, and succeeded in getting ashore, 
but were unable to stop her till she ran foul of another, 
which was made fast. Came-to at night on the eastern 
bank. A delightful season to me, on account of the 
serenity of my mind and of my happy and solemn re- 
flections on the grace of my God towards his poor 
creature." 

"I thought at night more than usual of my dear 

L . But the more I exaggerate these ideal joys, the 

more do I treasure up subjects of wo. O what vanity 
has God written upon all things under the sun !" — " As 
J returned late, I passed between the river and a party 



HENRY MARTYN. L8j 

of jackals ; they kept at a little distance till we were 
passed." 

October 25. — " Passed the morning in writing out of 
the rules of Sundhi. Had a very solemn season ol 
prayer, by the favor of God, over some of the chapters 
of Genesis; but especially the conclusion of the 119th 
Psalm. O that these holy resolutions and pious breath 
ings were entirely my own ! Adored be the never-fail- 
mg mercy of God ! He has made my happiness to de- 
pend, not on the uncertain connections of this life, but 
upon his own most blessed self— a portion that never 
faileth. Came-to on the eastern bank. The opposite 
side was very romantic ; adorned with a stately range 
of very high forest trees, whose deep dark shade 
seemed impenetrable to the light. In my evening walk 
enjoyed great solemnity of feeling, in the view of the* 
world as a mere wilderness, through which the chil- 
dren of God are passing to a better country. It was a 
comforting and a solemn thought, and was unspeak- 
ably interesting to me at the time, that God knew 
whereabouts his people were in the wilderness, and 
was supplying them with just what they wanted." 

" On my return towards the boat I saw a wild-boar, 
of a very large size, galloping parallel to the river. I 
had not a gun with me, or I might have killed him, as 
he was within reach of a fusee ball. In my budgerow 
found great delight in Hart's Hymns at night." 

October 26. — Sunday. " Passed this Lord's day with 
great comfort and much solemnity of soul. Glory to 
God for his grace ! Reading the Scriptures and prayer 
took up the first part of the day. Almost every chapter 



182 MEMOIR OF 

I read was blest to my soul, particularly the last chap- 
ter of Isaiah : ' It shall come, that I will gather all na- 
tions and tongues ; and they shall come, and see my 
glory,' &c. Rejoice, my soul, in the sure promises of 
Jehovah. How happy am I, when, in preparing for 
the work of declaring his glory among the Gentiles, I 
think that many of the Lord's saints have been this 
day remembering their unworthy friend. I felt as if I 
could never be tired with prayer. In the afternoon 
read one of Gibert's French Sermons, Bates on Death, 
and some of the Nagree Gospels. In the evening we 
came-to on the eastern bank. I walked into a neigh- 
boring village with some tracts. The children ran 
away in great terror ; and though there were some 
men here and there, I found no opportunity or encou- 
ragement to try if there were any that could speak 
Hindoostanee : however, I felt vexed with myself for 
not taking more pains to do them good. Alas ! while 
Satan is destroying their souls, does it become the ser- 
vants of God to be lukewarm? At night, read the 
third and fourth chapters of the Acts ; and lost much 
time and spirituality by indulging ideas of schemes 
about the Gospel, which had more of romance and 
pride in them than of wisdom and humiliation." 

October 27. — " Arrived at Berhampore. In the even- 
ing walked out to see the cantonments at the hospital, 
in which there were one hundred and fifty European 
soldiers sick. I was talking to a man, said to be dy- 
ing, when a surgeon entered. I went up and made 
some apology for entering the hospital. It was my old 

school-fellow and townsman, . The remainder 

af the evening he spent with me in my budgerow. He 



HENRY MAKTYN. 183 

pressed me much to stay longer with him, which I re- 
fused; but afterwards, on reflection, I thought it my 
duty to stay a little longer, thinking I might have an 
opportunity of preaching to the soldiers." 

October 28. — " Rose very early, and was at the hos- 
pital at day-light. Waited there a long time, wander- 
ing up and down the wards, Jn hopes of inducing the 
men to get up and assemble ; but it was in vain. I left 
three books with them ; and went away amidst the 
sneers and titters of the common soldiers. Certainly 
it is one of the greatest crosses I am called to bear, to 
take pains to make people hear me. It is such a strug- 
gle between a sense of propriety and modesty on the 
one hand, and a sense of duty on the other, that I find 
nothing equal to it. I could force my way any where, 
in order to introduce a brother minister ; but for my- 
self, I act with hesitation and pain. Mr. pro- 
mised to ask the head surgeon's permission for me to 
preach, and appointed the hour at which I should 
come. I went there ; but, after waiting two hours, was 
told that the surgeon was gone without being spoken 
to, and many other excuses were made. So, as it was 
now the heat of the day, I saw it was of no use to make 
any more attempts, and therefore I went on my wa) r . 
At night, from mere thoughtlessness, went on shore 
without tracts, and lost a better opportunity than I 
have yet had of distributing them among the people. 
My soul was dreadfully wounded at the recollection 
of it ; and O may the conviction of my wickedness rest 
upon my soul all my days ! How many souls will rise 
up in judgment against me at the last day, God only 
knows. The Lord forgive my guilty soul, deliver me 



184 MEMOIR OF 

from blood -guiltiness, and make me to remember foi 
what purpose I came hither !" 

Oct. 29. — " Passed Cossim Buzar and Moorsheda- 
bad in the middle of the day ; and so my resolutions 
of repairing my past negligence were defeated, for we 
stopped at night where there was not a house. I talk- 
ed with a party of boatmen, and begged them to take 
a tract ; but I could not prevail upon them. Though 
they were Rajemahl people, I could scarcely under- 
stand them, or they me, at all. I am grieved, and dis- 
appointed, and ashamed at my extraordinary back- 
wardness in the language ; but I hope not to be dis- 
couraged. Employed the whole day in translating 
Acts, chap. 2, and correcting it with my Moonshee." 

Oct. 30. — "Employed the whole day, as yesterday, 
about the same chapter. Read also the Ramayuna, and 
Sale's Introduction to the Koran. My views enlarge 
rapidly respecting the state of things among the Hin- 
doos and Mohammedans. My soul was in a most aw- 
ful state of depression; Satan was at work, and my 
soul found safety only in holding by God as a child 
clings to the neck of its mother. Thanks be to God 
that I have the witness in myself. ' The anointing, 
which ye have received of him, abideth in you, and 
ye need not that any man teach you, but as the same 
anointing teacheth you of all things,' &c. O how re- 
freshing and supporting to my soul was the holiness of 
the word of God ; sweeter than the sweetest promise, 
at this time, was the constant and manifest tendency 
of the word to lead men to holiness and the deepest 
seriousness. What a contrast is it to the mock majesty 
of the Koran, and the trifling indecent stuff of the 



HENRY MARTYN. 185 

Ramayuna ! My whole soul seems at present engrossed 
in the work of being the messenger of truth ; and at 
every season of prayer, I found a peculiar tenderness 
in praying for those unenlightened people." 

Oct. 31. — " Passed a very populous village called 
Jungipore." 

"Stopped at night again in a desert place. Em- 
ployed as yesterday. My Moonshee said, ' How can 
you prove this book "putting his hand on the Gospel 
10 be the word of God V I took him to walk with me 
on the shore, that we might discuss the matter ; and 
the result of our conversation was, that I discovered 
that the Mussulmen allow the Gospel to be, in general, 
the command of God, though the words of it are not 
His, as the words of the Koran are ; and contend that 
the actual words of God given to Jesus were burnt by 
the Jews ; — that they also admit the New Testament to 
have been in force till the coming of Mohammed. 
When I quoted some passages which proved the 
Christian dispensation to be the final one, he allowed 
it to be inconsistent with the divinity of the Koran, 
but said, ' Then those words of the Gospel must be 
false." The man argued and asked his questions seem- 
ingly in earnest; and another new impression was 
left upon my mind, namely, that these men are not 
fools, and that all ingenuity and clearness of reasoning 
are not confined to England and Europe. I seem to 
feel that these descendants of Ham are as dear to God 
as the haughty sons of Japheth ; I feel, too, more at 
home with the Scriptures than ever: every thing I see 
gives light to, and receives it from, the Scriptures. I 



1S6 MEMOIR OF 

seem transported back to the ancient times of the Is- 
raelites and the Apostles." 

" My spirit felt composed after the dispute, by sim- 
ply looking to God as one who had engaged to sup- 
port his own cause ; and I saw it to be my part to 
pursue my way through the wilderness of this world, 
looking only to that redemption which daily draweth 
nigh. The same thoughts continued through the even- 
ing. I reflected, while looking at the stream gliding 
by. the smooth current of which showed its motion 
only by the moon shining upon it, that all are alike 
carried down the stream of time — that in a few years 
there will be another generation of Hindoos, Mussul- 
men, and English in this country : and we are now 
but just speaking to each other as we are passing 
along. How should this consideration quell the tumult 
of anger and impatience when I cannot convince 
men. O how feeble an instrument must a creature so 
short-sighted be ! How necessary is it that God should 
be continually raising up new instruments; and how 
easily can he do it; the 'government is on his shoul- 
ders,' Jesus is able to bear the weight of it ; there- 
fore we need not be oppressed with care or fear : but 
a missionary is apt to fancy himself an Atlas." 

November 1. — " Employed all day in translating 
the third chapter of the Acts. Came-to at a place where 
there was no house. For the first time since arriving 
in Bengal, saw some hills appearing in the N. W." 

Nov. 2. — Sunday. "My mind was greatly oppress 
ed that I had done and was doing nothing in the way 
of distributing tracts. To free my conscience from the 
charge of unprofitableness and neglect, I wished to go 



HENRY MARTYN. 187 

ashore in the middle of the day, wherever I thought I 
might meet people ; but did not land till we came-to 
on the bank of the Ganges, which we entered just be- 
fore sunset. Hills appeared from S. W. to N. W. 
Some of these were the Rajemahl hills. Walking on 
shore, I met with a very large party ; and entering in- 
to conversation, I asked if any of them could read. 
One young man, who seemed superior in rank to the 
rest, said he could, and accordingly read some of the 
only Nagree tract that I had. I then addressed myself 
boldly to them, and told them of the Gospel. When 
speaking of the inefficacy of the religious practices of 
the Hindoos, I mentioned, as an example, the repetition 
of the name of Ram. The young man assented to 
this, and said, 'Of what use is it?' As he seemed to 
be of a pensive turn, and said this with marks of dis- 
gust, I gave him a Nagree Testament — the first I have 
given. May God's blessing go along with it, and cause 
the eyes of multitudes to be opened ! The men said 
they should be glad to receive tracts ; so I sent them 
back a considerable number by the young man. The 
idea of printing the parables in proper order, with a 
short explanation subjoined to each, for the purpose 
of distribution and as school books, suggested itself to 
me to-night, and delighted me much." 

Nov. 3. — " Crossed the river, in order to get to Chan- 
dry. But the wind growing very strong, we were ob- 
liged to come-to by a sand-bank. Began my work by 
writing a few remarks on one of the parables. Finish- 
ed ' Sale's Preliminary Discourse to the Koran,' and 
read the Ramayuna. Arrived at Chandry, and found 
and : walked with them over some of the 



188 MEMOIR OF 

ruins of Gour; a mosque, which was still standing en- 
tire, was indeed worth seeing. We observed several 
monkeys, and the print of a tiger's foot. 

Nov. 4. — "After officiating at morning worship, 1 
went up with my friends in a boat to Gomalty ; stop- 
ping by the way to visit one of their schools at Mirdy- 
pore,* which much delighted me. The little boys, 
seated cross-legged on the ground all around the 
room, read some of the New Testament to us. While 
they displayed their powers of reading, their fathers 
and mothers crowded in great numbers round the 
doors." 

Nov. 5. — " Received letters from Messrs. Brown, 
Corrie, and Parsons, which much revived me. At even- 
ing worship, discoursed from Isaiah, 63 : 1. My soul 
continued sweetly engaged with God: though the 
praises of the people of Calcutta were in some degree 
an interruption of that sweet peace which is only to 
be found in being nothing before God." 

Nov. 7. — " This morning, after speaking on Acts, 

20 : 32, I took my leave ; and with Mr. went in 

palanquins to Massamgung. Frequently cast down to- 
day. From want of diligent employment, my thoughts 
had time to wander in .search of some earthly good ■ 
but 1" found that recollection of what I deserved at the 
hands of God restored me to greater peace." 

Nov. 8. — "Early this morning reached Rajemahl, 
and w r alked to view the remains of its ancient splen- 
dor. Gave a tract or two to a Brahmin ; but the Dak 

* Here are thirteen or fourteen village schools, and in conse- 
quence a marked progress of civilization. 



HENRY MARTYN. 189 

Moonshee, a Mussulman, when he received one of the 
Hindoostanee tracts, and found what it was. was 
greatly alarmed ; and after many awkward apologies, 
returned it, saying that ' a man who had his legs in 
two different boats, was in danger of sinking between 
them. 5 Went on, much discouraged at the suspicion 
and rebuffs I met with, or rather pained ; for I feel 
not the less determined to use every effort to give the 
people the Gospel. O that the Lord would pour out 
upon them a spirit of deep concern for their souls ! 
In a walk at Rajemahl met some of the hill people. 
Wrote down from their mouth some of the names of 
things. From their appearance they seemed connect- 
ed with the Hottentots and Chinese. Passed the day 
in correcting Acts, chap. 3, with the Moonshee. At 
night walked with Mr. G. into a village, where we met 
with some more of the hill people. With one of them, 
who was a Manghee, or chief of one of the hills, I had 
some conversation in Hindoostanee ; and told him 
that wicked men, after death, go to a place of fire ; and 
good men above, to God. The former struck him ex- 
ceedingly. He asked again, c What? do they go to a 
place of great pain and fire?' These people, he said, 
sacrifice oxen, goats, pigeons, &c. I asked him if he 
knew what this was for, and then explained the design 
of sacrifices ; and told him of the great Sacrifice ; but 
he did not seem to understand me, and appeared pen- 
sive, after hearing that wicked men go to hell. He 
asked us, with great kindness, to have some of his 
wild honey, which was the only thing he had to offer. 
How surprising is the universal prevalence of sacri- 
fices ! This ciicumstance will, perhaps, be made use 



190 MEMOIR OF 

of for the universal conversion of the nations. How 
desirable that some missionary should go among these 
people ! No prejudices ; none of the detestable pride 
and self-righteousness of their neighbors in the plains. 5 ' 

Nov. 9. — " Passed the Sabbath rather uncomfortably. 

With Mr. I read several portions of the sacred 

Scriptures, and prayed in the afternoon. We reached 
Sichigully, a point where the Rajemahl hills jut out 
into the Ganges. It was a romantic spot. We went 
ashore, and ascended an eminence to look at the ruins 
of a mosque. The grave, and room over it, of a Mus- 
sulman warrior killed in battle, were in perfect pre- 
servation ; and lamps are still lighted there every 
night. We saw a few more of the hill people, one of 
whom had a bow and arrows ; they were in a hurry 
to be gone, and went off, men, women, and children, 
into their native woods. As I was entering the boat, 
I happened to touch with my stick the brass pot of one 
of the Hindoos, in which rice was boiling. So defiled 
were we in their sight, that the pollution passed from 
my hand, through the stick and the brass, to the meat. 
He rose and threw it all away. We read together at 
night an excellent sermon on 2 Cor. 5 : 1." 

Nov. 10. — " Employed almost all the day in finish- 
ing the correction of the third of the Acts with my 
Moonshee, and in writing on some of the parables. 
Went on the north side of the river, and set Mr. 

G ashore ; walked with him to a nulla, expecting 

to find his boat ; but it not being there, we were obliged 
to walk back by night. Happily we procured a torch 
in a village near, and were thus preserved from the 
wild buffaloes, whose recent footsteps in the path gave 



HENRY MARTY N 191 

us no small alarm. I am constantly preserved, through 
the good providence of the Lord. Employed in les- 
sons of Persian, writing and reading Ramayuna." 

Nov. 11. — "This morning, after prayer, Mr. G ■ 

took his leave. I returned to my work without inter- 
ruption, and with no small delight. The thought oc- 
curred to my mind very strongly, how much have 1 
to learn of divine things, if the Lord will be pleased to 
teach me. I want above all, a meek, serious, resigned, 
Christ-like spirit. May I have grace to live above 
every human motive ; simply with God, and to God ; 
and not swayed, especially in the missionary work, by 
the opinions of people not acquainted with the state 
of things, whose judgment may be contrary to my 
own. But it is a matter of no small difficulty to keep 
one's eye from wandering to the church in Calcutta, 
and in England," 

Nov. 12. — " Employed all the day in translating, in 
which work the time passes away pleasantly and ra- 
pidly. The cold mornings and evenings begin to be 
very severe. Though the thermometer was only down 
to 61°, I should have been glad of a fire. It was 81° 
in the middle of the day. We passed this day out of 
Bengal into Bahar." 

Nov. 13. — "This morning we passed Colgong. I 
went ashore, and had a long conversation with two 
men. As I approached more and more to religion, 
they were the more astonished ; and when I mentioned 
the day of judgment, they looked at each other in the 
utmost wonder, with a look that expressed, 'how 
should he know any thing about that! 5 I felt some 
satisfaction in finding myself pretty well understood 



192 MEMOIR OF 

in what I said ; but they could not read ; and no peo- 
ple came near us ; and so I had the grief of leaving 
this place without supplying it with one ray of light. 
I was much burdened with a consciousness of blood- 
guiltiness ; and though I cannot doubt of my pardon 
by the blood of Christ, how dreadful the reflection 
that any should perish who might have been saved 
by my exertions ! Looking round this country, and 
reflecting upon its state, is enough to overwhelm the 
mind of a minister or missionary. When once my 
mouth is opened, how shall I ever dare to be silent! 
Employed as yesterday. At night met some boatmen 
on the bank, and a Fakir with them ; I talked a good 
deal, and some things they understood. The Fakir's 
words I could scarcely understand. As he said he 
could read, and promised to read a Testament, I gave 
him one, and several tracts." 

Nov. 14. — " Employed in writing out the parables 
Walked through a poor village in the evening, where 
there were none but women and children, who all ran 
away when they saw me, except one poor old woman 
who was ill, and begged. Though she spoke clearly 
enough, I could scarcely understand one of her words 
so that I have quite a new language to learn. When 
she received half a rupee she was mute with astonish 
ment for a time, and at last said, Ckula, (good.) The 
name of the place was Nuckanpour." 

Nov. 15. — " Morning spent on the parables. After- 
wards with the Moonshee, correcting Acts 4. The 
ooat stopping in the afternoon a short time, I went 
into a village; and finding a genteel looking Hindoo 
smoking his hookah, I sat down with him, and a few 



HENRY MARTYN. 193 

people gathered round. But the old man, who had been 
a soldier, talked so incessantly about his campaigns 
that I found no good would come if I did not inter- 
rupt him, and introduce religion. From having been 
much with the English, he had more enlarged views 
than most of the Hindoos, and talked like a Mussul- 
man — that all were of one cast before God — that there 
would be a day of judgment, and that there was only 
one God. When I endeavored to make him compre- 
hend the nature of the death of Christ, he merely said, 
' Ah ! that is your shaster,' — so never was any effort 
more ineffectual. In the bazaar I stood and asked if 
any one could read Nagree. There was only one who 
could, and he took a tract : about ten others were ta- 
ken also. I suffered greatly from dejection most of the 
evening. But the Lord graciously came in the time of 
need and supported my sinking faith. 'The Lord 
reigneth,' and the people shall ' remember and. turn to 
the Lord.' " 

Nov. 16. — Sunday. " Generally in a solemn, tender 
spirit. Spent the first part of the day in reading the 
Scriptures and prayer. Many a word was brought 
home with abundance of consolation to my soul 
S Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of 
death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy 
rod and thy staff they comfort me.' When do the 
sheep find the happiness of having a shepherd so much 
as when they are walking through a dark shadow ? 
While Jesus lets me see his ; rod and staff,' I am com- 
forted. In the afternoon read some French sermons. 
Walked in the evening to a poor village, where I only 
produced terror. One man, whom I at last met, told 

Marty n. y 3 



194 MEMOIR OF 

me that none could read in the village but a Brahmin ; 
and he was gone to another town. I left two tracts 
for him, and told the man to be sure to give them to 
him when he came back. The man was in no small 
alarm at this, but asked only where I got them. Dis- 
tressed at times, I fear that I am not acting faithfully 
in warning those around me. But the shortest way to 
peace is, to pray for a broken heart and submissive 
spirit : by these means my mind brightened up. At 
night, was deeply affected about my two dear sisters; 
and felt the bowels of affection yearn over them ; who 
knows what they have been suffering all this while ? 
For my poor elder sister, I interceded that she might 
be saved." 

Nov. 17. — " Early this morning they set me ashore 
to see a hot spring. A great number of Brahmins and 
Fakirs were there. Not being able to understand 
them, I gave away tracts. Many followed me to the 
budgerow, where I gave away more tracts and some 
Testaments. Arrived at Monghir about noon. In the 
evening some came to me for books, and among them 
those who had travelled from the spring, having 
heard the report that I was giving away copies of the 
Ramayuna. They would not believe me when I told 
them that it was not the Ramayuna; I gave them six 
or eight more. In the morning tried to translate with 
the Moonshee one of the Nagree papers." 

Nov. 18. — "A man followed the budgerow along the 
walls of the fort, and finding an opportunity, got on 
board with another, begging for a book, not believ- 
ing but that it was the Ramayuna. As I hesitated, 
having given as many as I could spare for one place 



HENRY MARTYN. 195 

he prostrated himself to the earth, and placed his fore- 
head in the dust ; at which I felt an indescribable 
horror. I gave them each a Testament. Employed in 
writing out the parables, and translating. In the 
evening met with two villagers, and finding they could 
read, I brought them to the boat, and gave them each 
a Testament, and some tracts.' 5 

Nov. 19. — " Employed in translating the parables 
all the day. Finished the first book of the Ramayuna. 
Came-to at a desert place on the north side ; where, in 
my walk, I met with a man with whom I conversed ; 
but we could understand each other but very little. 
To a boy with him y who could read, I gave some tracts. 
Felt extraordinarily wearied with my labor these two 
or three last days, and should have been glad of some 
refreshing conversation." 

Nov. 20-22. — " Employments the same, through- 
out these three days: finished the sixth of Acts 
Stopped each night at sand banks." 

Nov. 23. — Sunday. " Spent the day comfortably 
and solemnly, in reading and prayer ; but my con- 
science was grievously wounded in the evening, at 
the recollection of having omitted opportunities of 
leaving the word of God at a place. Yet will I adore 
the blessed Spirit, that he departs not, nor suffers my 
conscience to be benumbed. What a wretched life 
shall I lead, if I do not exert myself, from morning to 
night, in a place where, through whole territories, I 
seem to be the only light." 

Nov. 24. — " Employed in writing on a parable all 
day. In my evening walk, finding an old Brahmin 
at work in the fields, I began to ask him { how he, a 



190 memoir or 

Brahmin, was obliged to work?' He concluded his 
answer by saying that we English had robbed them of 
their country. He was, for a considerable time, very 
violent ; but another Brahmin, in some fright, coming 
up, made all up, as he thought, by speaking of the 
brave English, &c. When I began to talk to them of 
the day of judgment, heaven and hell, they seemed 
surprised and pleased, and gave great attention. But 
I have never had reason to believe that the attention 
of the people to any thing I have to say is more than 
respect for a ( Sahib.' They never ask a question about 
it, and probably do not understand one half, even when 
my sentences are correct. The disaffection of the peo- 
ple gave rise, afterwards, to many reflections in my 
mind on what may be my future sufferings in this 
country ; but in proportion to the apparent causes of 
depression did my faith and triumph in the Lord 
seem to rise. Come what will — let me only be found 
in the path of duty, and nothing shall be wrong. Be 
my sufferings what they may, they cannot equal those 
of my Lord, nor probably even those of the Apostles 
and early martyrs. They, ' through faith, subdued 
kingdoms, wrought righteousness, out of weakness 
were made strong,' &c. and why shall not I hope that 
I too, who am indeed c like one born out of due time,' 
shall receive strength according to my day ?" 

Nov. 25. — " Reached Patna this afternoon ; walked 
about this scene of my future ministry with a spirit 
almost overwhelmed at the sight of the immense mul- 
titudes. There was a Rajah sitting at the door of his 
tent, by the water-side. Came to the budgerow at nigl.t 
ill with a headache, and still more weak and feeble in 
faith. Pain in the head continued acute all night." 



HENRY MARTYN. 197 

Nov. 26. — " The multitudes at the water-side prodi- 
gious. Arrived in the afternoon at Dinapore ; but did 
not go on shore. Employed in translating and writing 
on the parables. My spirit this evening was sweetly 
elevated beyond the people and the concerns of this 
world, while meditating on the words, 1 1 am the Al- 
mighty God : walk before me and be thou perfect.' " 



CHAPTER VI. 

STATIONED AT DINAPORE — OBSTACLES ENCOUNTERED COMMEN- 
CES HIS MINISTRY — TRANSLATIONS DISPUTES WITH HIS MOON- 

SHEE AND PUNDIT — ARRIVAL OF MR. CORRIE AT DINAPORE — 
DIFFICULTIES RESPECTING THE SCHOOLS — HAPPINESS IN THE 
WORK OF TRANSLATION. 

On reaching Dinapore, which, for a considerable 
time, was to be his permanent residence, Mr. Martyn's 
immediate objects were three-fold : to establish native 
schools, to attain such readiness in speaking Hindoos- 
tanee, as might enable him to preach in that language 
the Gospel of the grace of God, and to prepare trans- 
lations of the Scriptures and religious tracts for disper- 
sion. We have already seen that the idea of transla- 
ting the parables, accompanied by some remarks upon 
them, had occupied his mind during his voyage up the 
Ganges. At Dinapore he continued to engage in this 
employment with the same earnestness. Of Hindoos- 



198 MEMOIR OF 

tanee he already knew enough to translate with gram- 
matical accuracy; and his Moonshee was at hand to 
suggest the proper idiom, and, what in that language 
is so difficult, the just and exact collocation of the 
words in the sentences. The obstacles which he had 
to overcome in acquiring the languages of the country, 
he represents as formidable. Passing out of Bengal 
into Bahar, he found that he had to acquaint himself 
with the Baharree as well as the Hindoostanee ; and 
the Baharree had its various dialects. " I am low- 
spirited," he said soon after reaching Dinapore, " about 
my work ; I seem to be at a stand, not knowing what 
course to take." From the Pundit whom he employed 
he learned — though the statement was probably ex- 
aggerated — that every four cos (miles) the language 
changes ; and by the specimens he gave of a sentence 
in the dialects across the water at Gyah, and some 
other places, they appeared to differ so much, that a 
book in the dialect of one district would be unintelli- 
gible to the people of another. As the best mode of ac- 
quiring a knowledge of the various oriental tongues 
the study of Sanscrit was recommended to him by his 
Pundit, and with what spirit he labored in this and 
other pursuits may be seen from his account of the 
work of a single day. 

" Morning with the Pundit, occupied in Sanscrit. 
In the afternoon, hearing a parable in the Bahar dia- 
lect. Continued till late at night writing on the para- 
bles. My soul much impressed with the immeasurable 
importance of my work, and the wickedness and cruel- 
ty of wasting a moment, when so many nations are, as 
it were, waiting while I do my work. Felt eager for 



HENRY MARTYN. 199 

the morning to come again, that I might resume my 
work." 

The difficulties of various kinds which presented 
themselves to Mr. Martyn, could not fail of being a 
source of pain to him, in proportion to his fervent anx- 
iety to benefit all around him. But it was his privilege 
and consolation to remember that he was in His hands, 
in whom are " hid all the treasures of wisdom and 
knowledge," and " with whom all things are possible." 
Had he not sought and found refuge in the omnipo- 
tence of Christ, soon would he have sunk into despon 
dency. To those who have not elevated their views 
above the feeble efforts of human agency, the conver- 
sion of the heathen cannot but appear to exceed the 
limits of possibility. Mr. Martyn, who in England had 
met with many such disputers of this world, found 
that India was by no means destitute of them. A con- 
versation into which he was led with one of these cha- 
racters, was painfully trying to him ; " but in the mul- 
titude of my troubled thoughts," he said, " I still saw 
that there is c strong consolation in the hope set before 
us.' Let me labor for fifty years, midst scorn, and with- 
out seeing one soul converted — still it shall not be 
worse for my soul in eternity, nor even worse for it in 
time. ' Though the heathen rage,' and the English 
people c imagine a vain thing, 5 the Lord Jesus, who 
controls all events, is my friend, my master, my God, 
my all. On this Rock of ages, on which I feel my foot 
to rest, 'my head is lifted up above all mine enemies 
round about me, 5 and I sing, i yea, I will sing praises 
unto the Lord. 5 " 

From much of the society Mr. Martyn found at Dina- 



200 MEMOIR OF 

pore, he received more discomfort than disappoint- 
ment; some there were, indeed, who treated him from 
the first with the utmost kindness, who afterwards be- 
came his joy, and who one day will assuredly be his 
crown of rejoicing. But before that happy change in 
them was effected by the power of divine grace, he 
found none to whom he could fully and freely unbo- 
som himself. With what gladness and thankfulness, 
therefore, did he welcome the arrival of letters from 
his beloved Christian friends at Calcutta and in Eng- 
land. He speaks of being exceedingly comforted, on 
returning home after a melancholy walk, and finding 
letters from Mr. Brown and Mr. Corrie, and from two 
of his friends in England, who were as dear to him as 
he was to them. " How sweet," he said, after peru- 
sing these memorials of affection, " are the delights of 
Christian friendship ; and what must heaven be, where 
there are none but humble, kind, and holy children of 
God. Such a society would 01 itself be a heaven to me, 
after what I feel at the ways of worldly people here.' 3 
Nor was it only by the neglect, levity, and profaneness 
of many of his countrymen, where he was stationed, 
that Mr. Marty n was pained and grieved : his meek 
and tender spirit was hurt likewise at the manner ii» 
which he conceived himself to be regarded by the na- 
tives : by the anger and contempt with which multi- 
tudes of them eyed him in his palanquin at Patna, he 
was particularly affected ; observing, " Here every na- 
tive I meet is an enemy to me because I am an English- 
man. England appears almost a heaven upon earth, 
because there one is not viewed as an unjust intruder. 
But O the heaven of my God, the ' general assembly 



HENRY MARTYN. 201 

of the first-born, the spirits of just men made perfect, 
and Jesus ! O let me, for a little moment, labor and 
suffer reproach." 

The observations h*e was compelled to hear from 
his Moonshee and Pundit, often present a curious and 
affecting display of Pagan and Mohammedan igno- 
rance.* " Upon showing," he writes, " the Moonshee 
the first part of John, 3, he instantly caught at those 
words of our Lord, in which he first describes himself as 
having come down from heaven, and then calls himself 
'the Son of Man which is in heaven.' He said that 
this was what the philosophers called 'nickal,' or im- 
possible, even for God, to make a thing to be in two 
different places at the same time. I explained to him, 
as soon as his heat was a little subsided, that the diffi- 
culty was not so much in conceiving how the Son of 
Man could be at the same time in two different places, 
as in comprehending that union of the two natures in 
him, which made this possible. I told him that I could 
not explain this union ; but showed him the design and 
wisdom of God in effecting our redemption by this 
method. I was much at a loss for words, but I believe 
that he collected my meaning, and received some in- 
formation which he did not possess before." 

In another place he says, " On reading some parts 

* Many of these observations, as well as those made by the 
Persians with whom Mr. Martyn entered into religious discus- 
sion, cannot fail of giving pain to a Christian heart; but mis- 
sionaries ought to be apprised of the nature of those weapons 
with which Christianity is assailed by infidels. For their sakes 
much is inserted which otherwise had doubtless far better 
have been omitted. 



202 MEMOIR OF 

of the epistles of St. John to my Moonshee, he seemed 
to view them with great contempt : so far above the 
wisdom of the world is their divine simplicity ! The 
Moonshee told me, at night, that when the Pundit came 
to the part about the angels ' separating the evil from 
the good,' he said, with some surprise, that there w r as 
no such thing in his Shaster ; but that, at the end of the 
world, the sun would come so near, as first to burn all 
the men, then the mountains, then the debtas (inferior 
gods,) then the waters: then God, reducing himself to 
the size of a thumb-nail, would swim on the leaf of a 
peepul tree." 

The commencement of Mr. Martyn's ministry 
amongst the Europeans of Dinapore, was not of such 
a kind as either to gratify or encourage him. At first 
he read prayers to the soldiers at the barracks from 
the drum-head, and as there were no seats provided, 
was desired to omit his sermon. 

Arrangements being afterwards made for the per- 
formance of divine service with somewhat of that or- 
der and decency which becomes its celebration, the 
resident families at Dinapore assembled on the Sab- 
bath and attended Mr. Martyn's ministry. By many 
of these offence was taken at his not reading to them 
a written sermon, and it was intimated to him, by let- 
ter, that it was their wish that he should desist from 
extempore preaching. At such an interference on the 
part of his flock he confesses that he was at first roused 
into anger and displeasure ; he could not but think 
that the people committed to his charge had forgotten 
the relation which subsisted between him and them, 
in dictating to him the mode in which they thought 



HENRY MARTY N. 203 

proper to be addressed : on mature reflection, however 
he resolved upon compliance, for the sake of concilia- 
tion ; saying that " he would give them a folio sermon- 
book, if they would receive the word of God on that 
account/'' 

Whilst the flock at Dinapore were thus overstepping 
the limits of respect and propriety, Mr. Marty n was 
informed that one of his brethren at Calcutta was about 
to transgress the rules of Christian charity very griev- 
ously, by publishing one of those pulpit invectives 
which had been fulminated against him on his arrival 
at Calcutta. Such an act in a brother chaplain would, 
in some minds, have excited vindictive feelings. In his ; 
the chief excitement was a discomposure, arising from 
an apprehension that he might be compelled to under- 
take a public refutation of this attack on his doctrine ; 
an undertaking which would consume much of that 
precious time which he wished wholly to devote to his 
missionary work. 

Thus terminated the year 1806, on the last day of 
which Mr. Martyn appears to have been much engag- 
ed in prayer and profitable meditation on the lapse of 
time, feeling communion with the saints of God in 
the world, whose minds were turned to the considera- 
tion of those awful things which cannot but be sug- 
gested to a reflecting mind by a year irrecoverably past. 

On the first day of the year 1807, Mr. Martyn was 
led to the following reflection, from whence we per- 
ceive that it is the work of the self-same Spirit to con- 
vince the soul of sin, to constrain it to unreserved obe- 
dience, and to fill it with unutterable consolation. 



204 MEMOIR OF 

81 Seven years have passed away since I was first 
called of God. Before the conclusion of another seven 
years, how probable it is that these hands will have 
mouldered into dust ! But be it so ; my soul, through 
grace, hath received the assurance of eternal life, and 
I see the days of my pilgrimage shortening without a 
wish to add to their number. But O may I be stirred 
up to a faithful discharge of my high and awful work ; 
and laying aside, as much as may be, all carnal cares 
and studies, may I give myself to this ( one thing.' 
The last has been a year to be remembered by me, be- 
cause the Lord has brought me safely to India, and 
permitted me to begin, in one sense, my missionary 
work. My trials in it have been very few ; every thing 
has turned out better than I expected; loving kindness 
and tender mercies have attended me at every step : 
therefore here will I sing his praise. I have been an 
unprofitable servant, but the Lord hath not cut me off: 
I have been wayward and perverse, yet he has brought 
me further on the way to Zion : here, then, with seven- 
fold gratitude and affection, would I stop and devote 
myself to the blissful service of my adorable Lord. 
May he continue his patience, his grace, his direction, 
his spiritual influences, and I shall at last surely come 
off conqueror ! May he speedily open my mouth to 
make known the mysteries of the Gospel, and in great 
mercy grant that the heathen may receive it and live !" 

The commencement of the new year was devoted 
by Mr. Martyn to the work which was still before him, 
of translating and commenting on the parables, as well 
as to the attainment of the Sanscrit. Sustained by the 
hope of future usefulness, he experienced much plea- 



HENRY MARTYN. 205 

sure, not only in urging his toilsome way through the 
rudiments of that language, but even when he appear- 
ed, notwithstanding every exertion, to be making no 
sensible progress in it. " Employed," he says, one day 
in the month of January, 1807, " morning and even- 
ing in Sanscrit grammar, and in the afternoon in trans- 
lating the parables. Though I scarcely stirred in Sans- 
crit, yet, by keeping myself steady to the work, I had 
much comfort in my soul, and this day, like all others, 
fled swiftly away." 

To these employments he added another also, the 
translation into Hindoostanee of those parts of the 
Book of Common Pra)^er which are most frequently 
used. This project when it first occurred to him, so 
arrested his mind that he instantly began to translate, 
and proceeded as far as the end of the Te Deum : fear- 
ing, however, as it was the Sabbath, that such an em- 
ployment might not be in perfect harmony with the 
sacred solemnity of that day, inasmuch as it was not 
strictly of a devotional kind, he desisted from making 
further progress ; so deep was his reverence for a di- 
vine appointment; so jealous his fear of offending his 
God ! After passing, therefore, the remainder of the 
day in reading the Holy Scriptures, and singing praises 
to the Lord, he closed it with these, reflections — " O 
how shall I sufficiently praise my God, that here, in 
this solitude, with people enough, indeed, but without 
a saint, I yet feel fellowship with all those who, in 
every place, call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
I see myself traveling on with them, and I hope I shal) 
worship with them in his courts above !" 

These peculiar studies, as well as the conversations 



206 MEMOIR OF 

which Mr. Martyn frequently had with the natives, (for 
which purpose he went about without his palanquin,) 
were regarded by many with a mixture of jealousy, 
fear, and contempt. Did he so much as speak to a na- 
tive — it was enough to excite wonder and alarm : nor 
is this a matter of surprise, when we consider that all 
love for the soul, and all fear of God, are as certainly 
absent and inoperative in worldly characters, as the 
love of pleasure and the fear of man are present and 
predominant. And if, in ordinary circumstances, such 
a line of conduct as Mr. Martyn adopted in India, was 
calculated to awaken the apprehensions of those who 
lived chiefly for this world, at this particular junc- 
ture it was more likely to be attended with these ef- 
fects. For just at this time the settlement was thrown 
into some consternation by hearing of the sudden ar- 
rival of twelve thousand Mahrattas in the neighbor- 
hood : of which event the alarmists at Dinapore might 
be ready to take advantage, and endeavor, in some 
way or other, to connect it with Mr. Martyn's plans for 
the conversion of the natives to Christianity. These 
troops, however, had other objects than those which 
the wakeful fears of some might have assigned them ; 
their destination being simply to attend one of their 
chiefs on a pilgrimage to Benares. 

Religious discussions between Mr. Martyn, his 
Moonshee, and Pundit, were almost of daily occur- 
rence, and as they serve to throw some light on his 
character, as well as on that of those with whom a 
missionary must be conversant in India, it may be use- 
ful again to refer to what his journals contain on this 
head. 



HEJNRY MARTYN. 207 

" Long disputes with the Moonshee on the enjoy- 
ments of heaven; I felt some mortification at not 
having a command of language. There are a variety 
of lesser arguments, the force of which consists in 
their being brought together in rapid succession in 
conversation, which nothing but a command of words 
can enable one to effect. However, I was enabled to 
tell the Moonshee one thing ; that my chief enjoyment, 
even now on earth, was the enjoyment of God's pre- 
sence, and a growing conformity to him ; and there- 
fore, I asked, what motives could the promise of 
houris, ghilmans, green meadows, and eating and 
drinking in paradise afford me ? My soul sweetly bless- 
ed the Lord in secret, that this testimony was true ; 
and O what a change must have been wrought in me I" 

Jan. 16. — " Employed on the Sanscrit ; in the after- 
noon collecting idiomatic phrases for the parables. 
Finished the first Epistle of St. John with the Moon- 
shee. I asked him what he thought of those passages 
which so strongly express the doctrine of the Trinity, 
and of the divinity of Christ? he said he never would 
believe it, because the Koran declared it to be sinful to 
say that God had any son. I told him that he ought to 
pray that God would teach him what the truth really 
is. He said he had no occasion to pray on this subject, 
as the word of God was express. I asked him whe- 
ther some doubt ought not to arise in his mind whe- 
ther the Koran is the word of God. He grew angry ; 
and I felt hurt and vexed. I should have done better 
to have left the words of the chapter with him, with 
out saying any thing. I went also too far with the 
Pundit, in arguing against his superstition ; for he also 



208 MEMOIR OF 

grew angry. If any qualification seems necessary to 
a missionary in India, it is wisdom, operating in the 
regulation of the temper, and the due improvement of 
opportunities." 

" Dictating to-day the explanation of a parable to 
the Moonshee, I had occasion to give the proofs of the 
corruption of human nature ; and drew the conclusion 
that hence, till our hearts are changed, we are abomi- 
nable in the sight of God ; and our own works, howe- 
ver useful to men, are worthless in his sight. I think I 
never saw such a striking instance of the truth grap- 
pling with human nature ; he seemed like a fish when 
he first finds that the hook has hold of him ; he was 
in a dreadful rage, and endeavored to escape from the 
convictions these truths produced ; but seemingly in 
vain. At last, recovering himself, he said he had a 
question to ask ; which was — what would become of 
children, if the dispositions they were born with ren- 
dered them odious in the sight of God ? I gave the best 
answer I could ; but he considered it nothing, because 
founded on Scripture ; and said, with great contempt, 
that this was a mere matter of faith, the same sort of 
thing as when the Hindoos believed the nonsense of 
their Shasters." 

How delightful must it have been to Mr. Martyn to 
turn, as he did at this time, from controversies with 
these unbelievers, to the enjoyment of Christian con- 
verse and communion with his beloved friend and 
brother, Mr. Corrie; who, towards the end of January, 
visited him, on his way to his station at Chunar. Ma- 
ny a happy hour did these servants of Jesus Christ 
then pass in fellowship with one another ; for truly 



HENRY MARTYN. 209 

their fellowship was with the Father, and with his 
Son Jesus Christ. With one accord they often fell at 
the feet of their Redeemer in supplication and thanks- 
giving ; they read his holy word ; they rejoiced to- 
gether in its promises; they spake to one another of 
the glory of Christ's kingdom ; and talked of his pow- 
er : and they parted, sorrowfully indeed, yet earnestly 
desiring each to be employed in his proper work. 
u Our communion," said Mr. Martyn, respecting this 
interview, "has been refreshing, at least to me; and 
the Lord has sanctified our meeting by his presence 
and his gracious influences." 

With respect to the Europeans amongst whom Mr. 
Martyn ministered, he had much reason to be gratified 
with the reception he met with from those whom he 
attended in the hospital ; but he had equal cause to be 
dissatisfied and grieved with the behavior which he 
witnessed, too generally, in the houses of the wealthy. 
Can we be surprised, therefore, that he should prefer, 
as he did, the house of mourning to that of feasting ? 
In vain did he endeavor, amongst the upper ranks, to 
introduce religious topics in conversation. u I spoke," 
he said, after visiting some of these, a several times 
about religion to them ; but the manner in which it 
was received damped all further attempt ' Who hath 
believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord 
revealed? 5 How awful does the thought sometimes 
appear to mo, that almost the whole world are united 
against God and his Christ. O thou injured Sovereign ! 
O Lord, how long will it be ere thou plead thine own 
cause, and make bare thine arm in the sight of the 
nations ? Let me in patience possess my soul ; and 

Martyr 14 



210 MEMOIR OP 

though iniquity abound, may I never wax cold, but be 
brought safely through all this darkness and danger 
to a happier world ! To thousands my word will, per- 
haps, prove a c savor of death unto death.' Let me, 
nevertheless, go on steadily in the path which the 
Lord hath marked out ; perhaps some poor soul may 
be converted by what he shall hear from me ; or, ii 
not, I shall have done my work." In such society, as 
might be expected, he found his desires and endeavors 
for the conversion of the heathen invariably discoun- 
tenanced and opposed. Having, on one occasion, refer- 
red to the Company's charter, as not only permitting, 
but even enjoining the communication of religious in- 
struction to the natives, coldness and distance, on the 
part of those he was visiting, were the immediate con- 
sequences of his observations. But his " soul could 
rejoice in God, that if men were unkind, it was for 
Christ's sake ; and he felt determined to go on with 
vigor, though the whole world of wretched men 
should oppose." 

With respect to the conversion of the natives to the 
nominal profession of Christianity, in Mr. Martyn's 
opinion, the difficulty was by no means great. He was 
surprised at the laxity of principle which seemed to 
prevail among them, and could well perceive that the 
idea of embracing the religion of the English was very 
pleasant to the Pundit, and to other Hindoos. But he 
did not fail to explain to them, " that it was no object 
of his to make them ' Feringees,' in the sense in which 
they understood it ; and assured them that if all the 
Brahmins and Rajahs of the country should offer them- 
selves as followers of Christ, he would not receive 



HENRY MARTYN. 211 

them, except he believed that they repented, and would 
renounce the world." 

With the condition of the natives, in a moral point 
of view, Mr. Martyn had but too much reason to be 
shocked and affected ; and he was sometimes called 
upon to interfere, and that with some personal hazard, 
to prevent acts of the greatest turpitude and injustice 
among them. " My Surdar," he says, " was imprison- 
ed by an unj ust Cotwal. I sent word for him to give 
nothing for his release, and not to fear : the Cotwal 
was afraid, and let the man go, and ceased his claim 
upon his relations. This has been a long and iniqui- 
tous business. I felt quite thankful that the Lord had 
thus shown himself the father of the fatherless. I could 
hardly believe such barefaced oppression. How much 
has the Gospel done in producing sentiments of jus- 
tice and equity in all ranks of people in Christendom ! 
The poor people here seem unable to comprehend it." 
" ," he adds, " developed a system of villany car- 
ried on in the country, through the supineness of , 

which astonished and grieved me beyond measure. I 

determined to go to myself, and tell him what I 

had heard ; but thought it prudent to defer it till after 
my distant journey to Buxar ; in which the Cotwal, 
who is the head of a gang of robbers, with which 
the whole country is swarming, might easily procure 
my assassination, if, by getting him turned out, I 
should provoke him. I thought it, how r ever, a duty I 
owe to God, to him, to the poor oppressed natives, and 
to my country, to exert myself in this business ; and 
1 felt authorised to risk my life." 

The journey to Buxar — during which Mr. Martyn 



212 MEMOIR OF 

feared that, without prudence, he might possibly be- 
come a victim to the sudden revenge of one whose 
daily oppressions caused many to weep without a 
comforter — was commenced on the 16th of February ; 
and it may surprise those who are not aware of the 
very slender proportion of chaplains then allotted to 
the British empire in India, to be informed that he 
traveled seventy miles for the purpose of performing 
part of his pastoral duty in the celebration of a mar- 
riage. But before we attend him on this journey, let 
us notice his abstraction from the world ; his sacred 
peace ; his holy aspirations ; his deep contrition at 
this period : " I felt more entirely withdrawn from the 
world than for a long time past : what a dark atheis- 
tical state do I generally live in ! Alas ! that this crea- 
tion should so engross m)' mind, and the Author of it 
be so slightly and coldly regarded. I found myself, at 
this time, truly a stranger and a pilgrim in the world ; 
and I did suppose that not a wish remained for any 
thing here. The experience of my heart was delight- 
ful. I enjoyed a peace that passeth all understanding; 
no desire remained, but that this peace might be con- 
firmed and increased. Oh why should any thing draw 
away my attention, whilst Thou art ever near, and ever 
accessible, through the Son of thy love ? Oh why do I 
not always walk with God, forgetful of a vain and 
perishable world? Amazing patience ! He bears with 
this faithless, foolish heart; and suffers me to come, 
laden with sins, to receive new pardon, new grace, 
every day. Why does not such love make me hate 
those sins which grieve him, and hide him from my 
sight. 1 J sometimes make vain resolutions, in my own 



HEiNKY MARTYN. 213 

strength, that I wi]l think of God. Reason, and Scrip- 
ture, and experience, teach me that such a life is hap- 
piness and holiness ; that, by ' beholding his glory,' I 
should be changed ' into his image, from glory to 
glory,' and be freed from those anxieties which make 
me unhappy; and that, every motive to duty being 
strong, obedience would be easy." 

Of his journey to Buxar Mr. Martyn has left the fol- 
lowing account. February 16. — " Rose very early, and 
accumulated work for my Moonshee in my absence 

Made my will, and left it with . At half-past three 

set off in a palanquin, and in four hours reached the 
Soane. From thence traveled all night, and at nine 
next morning reached Buxar. Being unable to sleep, 
I arrived so sick and unwell as to be convinced of the 
unprofitableness of traveling by night in this country. 
By reading some of the Epistle to the Ephesians be- 
fore it grew dark, and meditating upon it afterwards, 
my time passed agreeably ; and I thought with delight 
of the time when I should be able to adopt the Apos- 
tle's words with respect to the heathen around me. 
After breakfast I lay down, and endeavored in vain to 
get sleep. I was much assisted in conversation with 
the family after dinner, when we conversed much on 
religious subjects; and I had as good an opportunity 
as I could have wished, of explaining the nature of 
the Gospel, and offering considerations for embracing 
it. I retired to rest with my heart full of joy at being 
thus assisted to pass the time profitably." 

Feb. 18.-— (c My birth-day, twenty-six. With all the 
numerous occasions for deep humiliation, I have cause 
for praise, in recollecting the promising openings and 



214 MEMOIR Of 

important changes which have occurred since my last 
birth-day. The Lord, in love, make me wax stronger 
and stronger ! Walked, after breakfast, to a pagoda 
within the fort at Buxar, where a Brahmin read and 
expounded. It was a scene, I suppose, descriptive of 
the ancient times of Hindoo glory. The Brahmin sat 
under the shade of a large banyan near the pagoda ; 
his hair and beard were white, and his head most 
gracefully crowned with a garland of flowers. A ser- 
vant of the Rajah sat on his right hand, at right an- 
gles; and the venerable man then sung the Sanscrit 
verses of the Huribuns, and explained them to him 
without turning his head, but only his eyes, which had 
a very dignified effect. I waited for the first pause to 
ask some questions, which led to a long conversation : 
and this ended by my attempting to give them a his- 
tory of redemption. The Rajah's servant was a very 
modest, pensive man ; but did not seem to understand 
what I said so well as the old Brahmin, who expressed 
his surprise and pleasure, as well as the other, at find- 
ing a Sahib who cared any thing about religion. 1 
afterwards sent a copy of the Nagree Gospels to the 
servant, desiring that it might be given to the Rajah, 
if he would accept it." 

Feb. 19. — " Rose at four and left Buxar, and at nine 
in the evening reached Dinapore in safety ; blessed be 
God ! May my life, thus preserved by unceasing Provi- 
denoe, be his willing sacrifice." 

The scene Mr. Martyn witnessed in the pagoda at 
Buxar was succeeded, soon after his return to Dina- 
pore, by another, which he describes as still more in- 
teresting. " A poor Jew from Babylon came to me 



HENKY MAKTYN. 2i« 

Degging. He was tall, but stooping from weakness, 
and his countenance strongly marked with grief. 
When, at his first arrival, I asked him if he was a Mus- 
sulman, he said, in a low and pensive tone of voice, 
No ! an Isralee. Alas ! poor people, still full of the 
fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God ! I felt all the 
tenderness of a kinsman towards him, and found my- 
self, as it were, at home with an Asiatic who acknow- 
ledged the God of Abraham. The passage in Isaiah, 
9 : 5, 6, he rendered as meaning the Almighty God." 
The state of the schools, five of which, at his own 
expense solely, Mr. Martyn had instituted in and about 
Dinapore, now began to occasion him some anxiety. 
An alarm was spread that it was his intention to seize 
upon all the children, and, in some compulsory man- 
ner, make them Christians. The school at Patna, in 
consequence, suddenly sunk in number, from forty 
children to eight ; and at Dinapore, a spot of ground 
which had been fixed upon for the erection of a school- 
room, could not be obtained from the Zemindar. In 
this perplexity Mr. Martyn lost no time in ascertaining 
what a soothing and at the same time sincere explana- 
tion of his sentiments might effect, and for this pur- 
pose he went to Patna. There, in addition to his pre- 
sent perplexities, he had the severe pain of beholding 
a servant of the Company, a man advanced in years, 
and occupying a situation of great respectability, liv- 
ing in a state of daring apostacy from the Christian 
faith, and openly professing his preference for Moham- 
medanism. He had even built a mosque of his own ; 
which at this season, being the Mohurran, was adorned 
with flags ; and being illuminated at night, proclaimed 



216 MEMOIR OF 

the shame of the offender. It will readily be supposed 
that Mr. Martyn did not fail to sound a warning voice 
in the ears of this miserable apostate — he charged him 
to " remember whence he was fallen," and exhorted 
him to consider that " the Son of God had died for 
sinners." 

At the school at Patna neither children nor teachei 
were to be found ; all, as if struck by a panic, had ab- 
sented themselves. The people, however, quickly ga- 
thered in crowds, and to them Mr. Martyn declared 
that his intentions had been misunderstood; when 
such was the effect of temperate reasonings and mild 
expostulations, that all apprehensions were removed 
almost as quickly as they had been excited ; and in a 
few days the children came, as usual, to the schools oi 
Patna and Dinapore. 

By February 24, a work was completed by Mr. Mar- 
tyn, which, had he effected nothing else, would have 
proved that he had not lived in vain — the translation ol 
the book of Common Prayer into Hindoostanee 3 and on 
Sunday, March 15, he commenced the performance oi 
divine worship in the vernacular language of India, 
concluding with an exhortation from the Scripture, in 
the same tongue. The spectacle was as novel as it was 
gratifying, to behold two hundred women, Portuguese, 
Roman Catholics, and Mohammedans, crowding to 
attend the service of the Church of England, which 
had lost nothing, doubtless, of its devout solemnity, in 
being clothed with an oriental dress. 

Toward the latter end of the month of March, ano- 
ther useful work was also brought to a conclusion, 
that of a "Commentary on the Parables."— u The lit- 



HENRY MARl'YN. 217 

tie book of the Parables," Mr. Martyn wrote to Mr. 
Corrie at this time, " is finished, through the blessing 
of God : I cannot say that I am very well pleased on 
the re-perusal of it ; but yet, containing, as it does, such 
large portions of the word of God, I ought not to doubt 
its accomplishing that which he pleaseth." 

" Talking to the Moonshee," he says in his journal, 
of the probable effects of that work, " he cut me to the 
very heart by his contemptuous reflections on the Gos- 
pel ; saying, that after the present generation was pass- 
ed away, a race of fools might perhaps arise, who 
would try to believe that God could be a man, and man 
God, and who would say that this is the word of God. 
One advantage I may derive from his bitterness and 
disrespect, is, that I shall be surprised at no appear- 
ances of the same temper in others in future. May my 
Lord enable me to maintain an invincible spirit of love ! 
How sweet that glorious day, when Jesus Christ shall 
reign ! Death, at several times of this day, appeared in- 
finitely sweet in this view of it, that I shall then go to 
behold the glory of Christ." 

Mr. Martyn's duties on the Sabbath had now in- 
creased ; consisting of one service at seven in the 
morning to the Europeans, another at two in the 
afternoon to the Hindoos, and an attendance at the 
nospital: after which, in the evening, he minister 
ed privately at his own rooms to those soldiers who 
were most seriously impressed with a sense of divine- 
things. From the following statement we may see 
and appreciate his exertions: "The English service 
at seven in the morning. I preached on Luke, 22 : 22. 
As is always the case when I preach about Christ, a 



218 MEMOIR OF 

spiritual influence was diffused over my soui. The 
rest of the morning, till dinner time, I spent not un- 
profitably in reading Scripture and David Brainerd, 
and in prayer. That dear saint of God, David Brain- 
erd, is truly a man after my own heart. Although I 
cannot go half way with him in spirituality and devo- 
tion, I cordially unite with him in such of his holy 
breathings as I have attained unto. How sweet and 
wise, like him, and the saints of old, to pass through 
this world as a serious and considerate stranger ! I 
have had more of this temper to-day than of late, and 
every duty has been in harmony with my spirit. The 
service in Hindoostanee was at two o'clock. The num- 
ber of women not above one hundred. I expounded 
chap. 3 of St. Matthew, Notwithstanding the general 
apathy with which they seemed to receive every 
thing, there were two or three who, I was sure, under- 
stood and felt something. But, besides them, not a sin- 
gle creature, European or native, was present. Yet 
true spirituality, with all its want of attraction for the 
carnal heart, did prevail over the splendid shows ol 
Greece and Rome, and shall again here. A man at the 
hospital much refreshed me, by observing, that if I 
made an acquisition of but one convert in my whole 
life, it would be a rich reward ; and that I was taking 
the only possible way to this end. This man's remark 

was much more sensible than 's yesterday, who, 

it seems, had full information of my schools, &c. and 
said that I should make no proselytes. 'Thy judg- 
ments are far above, out of their sight, 5 How positive- 
ly they speak, as if there was no God who could influ- 
ence the heart. At night B— - and S came, and 

we had the usual service." 



HENRY MARTYN. 219 

With those soldiers who attended Mr. Martyn al- 
ways on the evening of the Sabbath, and often on 
some other evenings of the week, he enjoyed true spi- 
ritual communion. Their number was at first very 
small, amounting at the most to five ; sometimes, in- 
deed, only one could attend, but with him he would 
gladly unite in prayer and praise, and in reading the 
Scriptures ; and the promise of the Redeemer's gra- 
cious presence was verified, to their abundant conso- 
lation, 

Over some few of the officers stationed at Dinapore 
he now began to rejoice with that joy which those 
faithful ministers alone can estimate, who, after much 
earnest preaching and admonition, and after many 
prayers and tears, at length perceive a fruitful result 
of their anxious endeavors to win souls and glorify 
their Lord. One of these, " who, from the first, 5 ' to 
use Mr. Martyn's own words, " had treated him with 
the kindness of a father," at this time excited expecta- 
tions, which soon ripened into a delightful certainty, 
that he had turned with full purpose of heart to his 
Redeemer. But if Mr. Martyn's happiness was great 
in witnessing this effect of the divine blessing on his 
ministry, so also was his anxiety lest this new con- 
vert should relapse, and walk again according to the 
course of this world ; and he began for the first time, 
he said, in reference to him, to enter into the spirit of 
the Apostle's words, " Now w r e live, if ye stand fast in 
the Lord." 

To those ministerial duties in which he w 7 as now 
engaged, Mr. Martyn considered that in prudence he 
ought, for the present, to confine himself; had he 



220 MEIY10IR OP 

given way at once to the strong and full-flowing tide 
of his zeal and love, it would immediately have carried 
him, with the Bible in his hand, into the streets of 
Patna; though to have commenced his ministry in 
that idolatrous city would, as he confesses to Mr. 
Corrie, have cost him much. He wrote to Mr. C. in 
these ardent and energetic terms — " O that the time 
were come that I should be able to carry the war into 
the enemy's territory. It will be a severe trial to the 
flesh, my dear brother, for us both ; but it is sufficient 
for the disciple to be as his master, and the servant as 
his lord. We shall be ' accounted as the filth of the 
world, and the off-scouring of all things.' But glory 
be to God, if we shall be accounted worthy to suffer 
shame for the name of the Lord Jesus. The cause we 
undertake is, if possible, more odious and contempti- 
ble in the eyes of the people of this country than it was 
in the primitive times; and that because of the mis- 
conduct of the Roman Catholic missionaries. It is no 
more than natural that ' Christian' should be a name 
of execration to those who know no more of Chris- 
tianity than what they have hitherto observed in this 
country." 

To that unrestrained intercourse by letter, which 
Mr. Martyn held weekly with Mr. Corrie, he was in- 
debted for much of the purest felicity of his life. Such 
a friend, stationed near him in such a country, he 
ranked amongst the richest blessings showered down 
upon him from on high. For, if we except his other 
brethren in India, with whom he statedly correspond- 
ed every quarter, and often also at other times, and 
never but with great delight, he had no one like- 



HENRY MARTYN. 221 

minded, who would naturally care for the souls of the 
heathen : Mr. Corrie was of one heart with himself. 

An interruption of this correspondence, which now 
took place, painful as it was in itself to Mr. Martyn, 
was more so with respect to its cause. The military 
station at Chunar is considered more adverse to the 
constitution of an European than almost any other in 
India ; and the heat, which in the month of March 
raised the thermometer atDinapore to 92° in the shade, 
at Chunar was still more oppressively intense. Mr. 
Corrie's health began in consequence to be seriously 
affected, and many apprehensions for his most valua- 
ble life forced themselves upon the mind of Mr. 
Martyn. 

The following extract of a letter, written upon this 
occasion, shows Mr. Martyn's anxiety for his friend, 
and evinces also how fully he was alive to the neces- 
sity of subjecting the impetuosity of zeal to the dis- 
criminating correction of wisdom. " If there is nothing 
on the rock of Chunar which occasions your frequent 
illness, I am sure I am not one to advise you to leave 
the flock. But if there is, as I have much reason to 
believe, then the mere loss of your services to the few 
people there, is, I think, not sufficient reason for ha- 
zarding your life, in which the interests of millions of 
others are immediately involved. Consider, you bring 
a fixed habit of body with you, and must humor it as 
much as possible at first. When, after the experience 
of a year or two, you know what you can bear, go, if 
you please, to the extent of your powers. It is not 
agreeable to the pride and self-righteous parts of our 
nature to be conferring with flesh and blood ; nature, 



222 MEMOIR OF 

under a religious form, would rather squander away 
life and strength, as David Brainerd did. You know 
that I regard him as one ' the latchet of whose shoes 
I am not worth j^ to unloose ;' and yet, considering ihe 
palpable impropriety of his attempting to do what he 
did, when he ought to have been in medical hands, 
and not being able to ascribe it to folly, in such a sen- 
sible man, I feel disposed, perhaps from motives of 
censoriousness, to ascribe it to the desire of gaining 
his own good opinion." Then proceeding to the sub- 
ject which lay so near both their hearts, the conver 
sion of the heathen, he thus concludes : " I long to hear 
of a Christian school established at Benares ; it will be 
like the ark of God brought into the house of Dagon. 
But do not be in a hurry; let your character become 
known, and you may do any thing. If nothing else 
comes of our schools, one thing I feel assured of, that 
the children will grow up ashamed of the idolatry and 
other customs of their country. But surely the general 
conversion of the natives is not far off: the poverty of 
the Brahmins makes them less anxious for the continu- 
ance of the present system, from which they gain but 
little. But the translation of the Scriptures is the grand 
point. I trust we shall have the heavenly pleasure of 
dispersing the Scriptures together through the inte- 
rior. Oh, the happiness and honor of being the chil- 
dren of God, the ministers of Christ!" 

Mr. Martyn's own health, as well as that of his 
friend, was reduced at this time to a weak and languid 
state. This was in part, perhaps, to be attributed to 
the debilitating effects of the heated atmosphere ; but 
it was certainly increased, if not induced, by his too 



HENRY MARTY N. 223 

severe abstinence. Most strictly did he observe the 
seasons set apart by the Church for fasting and pray- 
er; but the illness under which he now labored was 
so evidently aggravated, if not occasioned by absti- 
nence, that he became convinced the exercise of fast- 
ing was so injurious to his health as to be improper, in 
the degree and frequency in which he had been accus- 
tomed to use it. 

In this sickness, however, though an extreme lan- 
guor accompanied it, he was not only patient, but ac- 
tive. On the Sabbath he would by no means desist 
from his work. "I was assisted," he says, "to go 
through the usual ministrations without pain. In the 
morning I preached on Psalm 16 : 8, 10, and adminis- 
tered the Lord's supper with rather more solemnity 
and feeling than I usually have. The rest of the 
morning I could do little but lie down ; in the after- 
noon I found, I supposed, two hundred women, and 
expounded again at considerable length. Read the 
Pilgrim's Progress at the hospital. In exposition with 
the soldiers I found great enlargement." 

In proof of that wretchedness and ignorance in the 
natives which so excited Mr. Martyn's compassion for 
them, we may adduce two instances with which he 
himself has furnished us; in the cases of a Brahmin 
and a Ranee, or native princess, though perhaps the 
Brahmin may be considered as only avowing senti- 
ments too common amongst many who are yet called 
Christians, and have the book of God in their hands. 
rt A Brahmin," he says, " visiting my Pundit, copied out 
the parable in which the ten commandments were 
written, with a determination to put them all aceu- 



224 MEMOIR OF 

rately into practice, in order to be united with God 
He had however, an observation to make, and a ques- 
tion to ask. c There was nothing, 5 he said, ' command- 
ed to be done, only things to be abstained from ; and if 
he should be taken ill in the bazaar, or while laughing, 
and die ; and, through fear of transgressing the third 
commandment, should not mention the name of God, 
should he go to heaven ?" — " The Ranee of Daoud- 
nagur, to whom I had sent a copy of the Gospels by 
the Pundit, returned her compliments, and desired to 
know what must, be done for obtaining benefit from 
the book; whether prayer, or making a salam (a bow) 
to it? I sent her word that she must seek divine in- 
struction by secret prayer, and I also added some 
other advice." 

Little as there was that was promising in either of 
these characters, there was yet more appearance of 
what might be thought hopeful in them, than in Mr. 
Martyn's Moonshee and Pundit, whom he still conti- 
nued to labor incessantly, though unsuccessfully, to 
convince of their awful errors. 

"My faith," he complains again, " is tried by many 
things, especially by disputes with the Moonshee and 
the Pundit. The Moonshee shows remarkable con- 
tempt for the doctrine of the Trinity. ' It shows God 
to be weak, 5 he says, ' if he is obliged to have a fellow. 
God was not obliged to become man ; for if we had all 
perished, he would have suffered no loss. And as to 
pardon, and the difficulty of it, I pardon my servant 
very easily, and there is an end. As to the Jewish 
Scriptures, how do I know but they were altered by 
themselves? They were wicked enough to do it, just 



HENRY MARTY N. 225 

as they made a calf.' In all these things I answered so 
fully that he had nothing to reply."— "In the after- 
noon I had a long argument again with the Pundit. 
He too wanted to degrade the person of Jesus, and 
said that neither Brahma, Vishnu, nor Seib were so 
low as to be born of a woman j and that every sect 
wished to exalt its teacher, and so the Christians did 
Jesus." 

March 14. — The quotations which I collected from 
Scripture this day, in treating on the parable of the 
inconsiderate king, in order to illustrate the idea of 
the sufferings to which Christians are exposed, seem- 
ed to offend both the Moonshee and the Pundit very 
much. In considering the text, ' the time cometh 
when he that killeth you shall think he doeth God ser- 
vice,' he defended the practice of putting infidels to 
death, and the certainty of salvation to Moslems dying 
in battle with the infidels ; and said that it was no 
more strange than for a magistrate to have power to 
put an offender to death. He took occasion also to say 
that both the New Testament, as we gave it, and the 
church service also, were stuffed with blasphemies. 
With the benighted Pundit I had a long conversation, 
as he seemed to be more in earnest than I had yet 
seen him. He asked whether, by receiving the Gospel, 
he should see God in a visible shape ; because, he 
said, he had seen Sargoon the deity made visible : this 
he affirmed with great gravity and earnestness. At 
night I lost time and temper in disputing with the 
Moonshee, respecting the lawfulness of putting men to 
death for blasphemy. He began by cavilling at the 
Lord's Prayer, and ridiculing it, particularly the ex- 
Marty n. 15 



226 MEMOIR OF 

pression, ' hallowed be thy name' — as if the name of 
the deity was not already holy. He said that ' prayer 
was not a duty amongst the Mohammedans ; that read- 
ing the Numaz was merely the praise of God ; and 
that as when a servant, after doing his master's duty 
well, thought it a favorable opportunity for asking a 
favor, so the Moslem, after doing his duty, might ask 
of God riches or a son ; or, if he pleased, patience in 
affliction.' This then is Mahommedanism, to murder, 
as infidels, the children of God, and to live without 
prayer." 

"The conversation with the Pundit was more se- 
rious than it has yet been ; and I find that seriousness, 
in the declaration of the truths of the Gospel, is likely 
to have more power than the clearest argument con- 
veyed in a trifling spirit. I told him that, now he had 
heard the word of Christ, he w T ould not be tried at the 
last day by the same law as the other Brahmins and 
Hindoos who had never heard it, but in the same man- 
ner as myself and other Christians ; and that I feared, 
therefore, that he was in great danger. He said, as 
usual, that there were many ways to God ; but I re- 
plied that there was no other Savior than Christ, be- 
cause no other had bought men with his blood, and 
suffered their punishment for them. This effectually 
silenced him on that head : he then said that " he had 
a house and children, and that to preserve them he 
must retain the favor of the world; that he and his 
friends despised idol-worship, but that the world 
would call him wicked if he forsook the service of 
the gods.' " 

" My Pundit grieved me, by showing that he knew 



HENRY MARTY N. 227 

no more of the way of salvation than before. Alas ! 
how poor and contemptible are all my efforts for God 
— if efforts they can be called. He observed that 
1 there was nothing express in the book about the way 
of salvation, or as to what one must do to be saved,' — 
the legalist's question in every land." 

" My Pundit observed that I had said that forgive- 
ness would not be given for repentance only; where- 
as, in the third parable, in chap. 15 of St. Luke, the 
repentant sinner was received at once. How could 
this be ? For his part, he would rest his hope on the 
parables, in preference to the other statements. How 
strange is the reluctance which men have to depend 
on the righteousness of another ! He affirmed that he 
was keeping all the commandments of God. But when 
I charged him with worshipping the sun at his morning 
devotions, he confessed it, and said that it was not for- 
bidden in the ten commandments. I then read him the 
passages relating to the worship of the host of heaven; 
but he could see no harm in this species of worship 
more than in making his salam to any other superior. 
With respect to the Sabbath, he said that he had al- 
ways kept that day by fasting, and that all Hindoos 
did the same ; but that no reason was given in the 
Shaster why it was holy." 

" Talking with the Moonshee on the old subjects, 
the divinity of Christ, Mohammed's challenge, &c. he 
did not know of the system of the Mohammedan doc- 
tors, that one passage abrogates another ; but said that 
if I could produce two commandments undeniably op- 
posite, he would throw away the book, and seek a new 
religion Respecting the promise of Mohammed, tha 4 



228 MEMOIR OF 

they who die fighting for Islam should certainly go to 
heaven, I said that my objection was, that the person 
thus dying might be full of envy, &c. and could such 
a person go to God? In answer to this, he denied that 
the sins of the heart were sins at all ; and I could say 
nothing to convince him that they were. To refute 
what he had said at some former times about Mussul- 
men not remaining m hell for ever, I applied our Sa- 
vior's parable of the servant beaten with many stripes j 
and asked him, ' If I had two servants, one of whom 
knew my will, and the other did not, and both com- 
mitted the same fault, which was the more culpable V 
He answered, ' I suppose he who knew his master's 
will.' I replied, ' Yet, according to you, the enlightened 
Mussulmen are to come out of hell, while Jews and 
Christians, for the same sin, are to remain there for 
ever.' He had not a word to reply ; but said he could 
give no answer, ' uglee,' but only ' nuglee,' contradict- 
ing it on the authority of the Koran. He spoke of the 
ineffectual endeavors of men to root out Islamism, as 
a proof of its being from God ; and objected to Chris- 
tianity, because there were no difficulties in it ; devo 
tion only once a week, prayer or no prayer, just when 
or where we pleased ; eating with or without washing j 
and that, in general, it was a life of carelessness 
with us." 

Toward the middle of the month of April another 
summons, similar to that which had carried Mr. Mar- 
tyn to Buxar, called him from his studies and labors 
at Dinapore, to Monghir. Not long before he under- 
took this expedition, we find him thus expressing him- 
self, after an examination into the state of his heart 



HENRY MARTYN. 229 

before God. "My mind much as usual, not tried by 
any violent assault of sin or Satan ; but the daily cause 
of grief and shame, and indeed the root of all sin, is 
forgetfulness of God. I perceive not in what state I 
have been, till I come to pray." — " Enjoyed a greater 
stability of faith in the divine Redeemer. May he 
make his servant steady, brave, and vigilant in his ser- 
vice !" — " Satan assaults me in various ways ; some of 
his temptations, respecting the person of my Lord, 
were dreadfully severe; but he triumphed not a mo- 
ment. I am taught by these things to see what would 
become of me if God should withdraw his mighty hand. 
Is there any depth into which Satan would not plunge 
me?" 

"My soul is sometimes tried with the abounding of 
iniquity, and wounded by infidel thoughts. But my 
Redeemer has risen triumphant, and will not suffer his 
feeble servant to be tempted above what I am able to 
bear." — " If there is one thing that refreshes my soul 
above all others, it is, that I shall behold the Redeemer 
gloriously triumphant, at the winding-up of all things. 
thou injured Sovereign, how long dost thou bear 
this ingratitude from wicked mankind !" 

" Still permitted to find sweet refuge in the presence 
of my Lord, from infidelity, and from the proud world 
and the vanities of time." 

" In prayer had an affecting sense of my shameful 
ingratitude. Had I behaved thus to an earthly bene- 
factor, showing so little regard for his company and 
his approbation, how should I abhor myself, and be 
abhorred by all : O what a God is our God ! How as- 
tonishingly rich in grace, bearing all with unceasing 



230 MEMOIR OF 

patience, and doing nothing but crowning his sinful 
creature with loving-kindness and tender mercies," 

'* This is the day on which I left Cambridge. My 
thoughts frequently recurred, with many tender recol- 
lections, to that seat of my beloved brethren, and I 
again wandered in spirit amongst the trees on the 
banks of the Cam." 

" Employed in writing a sermon, and translating ; 
but heavenly things become less familiar to my mind 
whilst I am so employed without intermission. Yet 
the whole desire of my heart is towards spiritual en- 
joyment. Oh when shall body, soul and spirit, be all 
duly employed for God !" 

" Dull and poor as my miserable soul is, and think- 
ing very little about heaven ; yet, for aught else that is 
in this world, existence is scarcely worth having. The 
world seems as empty as air." 

On the 18th of April Mr. Martyn commenced his 
voyage of nearly a hundred miles to Monghir. The 
following is an extract from his journal during the 
eight days that were consumed in thus leaving his 
station to marry a couple, and in returning afterwards 
to Dinapore. 

" After finishing the correction of the parables, I left 
Dinapore to go to Monghir. Spent the evening at Patna 

with Mr. G in talking on literary subjects ; but my 

soul was overwhelmed with a sense of my guilt in not 
striving to lead the conversation to something that 
might be for his spiritual good. My general backward- 
ness to speak on spiritual subjects before the uncon- 
verted, made me groan in spirit at such unfeelingness 
and unbelief. May the remembrance of what I am 



HENRY MARTY N. 231 

made to suffer for these neglects be one reason for 
greater zeal and love in the time to come." 

April 19th. — " A melancholy Lord's day ! In the 
morning, at the appointed hour, I found some solemni- 
ty and tenderness ; the whole desire of my soul seemed 
lo be, that all the ministers in India might be eminent- 
ly holy; and that there might be no remains of that 
levity or indolence, in any of us, which I found in my- 
self. The rest of the day passed heavily, for a hurri- 
cane of hot wind fastened us on a sand-bank for twelve 
hours, while the dust was suffocating, and the heat in- 
creased the sickness which was produced by the toss- 
ing of the boat, and I frequently fell asleep over my 
work. However, the more I felt tempted to impatience 
and unhappiness, the more the Lord helped me to 
strive against it, and to look to the fullness of Jesus 
Christ. Several hymns, particularly 

" There is a fountain filled with blood," 

were very sweet to me. After all the acquisitions of 
human science, what is there to be compared with the 
knowledge of Christ, and him crucified ? Read much 
of the Scripture history of Saul, and the predictions in 
the latter end of the Revelation. Read also Marshall 
on Sanctification, Gibert's Sermons, and Thomas a 
Kempis." 

April 20. — " A day very little better. I could scarce- 
ly keep myself alive, and was much tried by evil tem- 
per. Employed in writing to , and Mr. ; but 

all I did was without energy ; the long-wished for night 
came at last, and my feeble body found rest and resto- 
ration in sleep." 



232 MEMOIR OF 

April 21.— <; Again the love and mercy of the Lord 
restored me to health and spirits. Began to write a 
sermon on walking in Christ, and found my soul bene- 
fited by meditation on the subject. In the afternoon 
went on with translations. Arrived at sunset at Mon- 
ghir." 

April 22. — " Spent the day at 's. Found two or 

three opportunities to speak to him about his soul. 

threw out some infidel sentiments, which gave 

me an opportunity of speaking. But to none of the 
rest was I able to say any thing. Alas ! in what a state 
are mankind every where ; living without God in the 
world. Married to ." 

April 23.—" Left Monghir, and got on twenty-three 
miles toward Dinapore : very sorrowful in mind, both 
from the recollection of having done nothing for the 
perishing souls I have been among, and from find- 
ing myself so unqualified to write on a spiritual sub- 
ject which I had undertaken. Alas ! the ignorance 
and carnality of my miserable soul ! how contempti- 
ble must it be in the sight of God. 

April 24. — " Still cast down at my utter inability to 
write any thing profitable on this subject ; and at my 
execrable pride and ease of heart. Oh that I could 
weep in the dust, with shame and sorrow for my 
wickedness and folly ! Yet thanks are due to the Lord 
for showing me, in this way, how much my heart has 
been neglected of late. I see by this, how great are 
the temptations of a missionary to neglect his own 
soul. Apparently outwardly employed for God, my 
heart has been growing more hard and proud. Let 
me be taught that the first great business on earth is 



HENRY MARTYN. 233 

to obtain the sanctification of my own soul ; so shall I 
be rendered more capable also of performing the du- 
ties of the ministry, whether amongst the Europeans 
or heathen, in a holy and solemn manner. Oh how I 
detest that levity to which I am so subject ! How cruel 
and unfeeling it is ! God is my witness that I would 
rather, from this day forward, weep day and night for 
the danger of immortal souls. But my wickedness 
seems to take such hold of me that I cannot escape ; 
and my only refuge is to commit my soul, with all its 
corruption, into the hands of Christ, to be sanctified 
and saved by his almighty grace. For what can I do 
with myself? my heart is so thoroughly corrupt that 
I cannot keep myself one moment from sin. Finished 
the Koran to-day, and considered with myself why I 
rejected it as an imposition, and the reasons appeared 
clear and convincing." 

" The budgerow struck with such violence against 
a sand-bank, that a poor Mohammedan boy, falling 
with all the rest, broke his arm. We did all that we 
could, but the cries of the poor boy went through my 
heart. At night a tremendous north-wester came on, 
but the Lord kept us in safety." 

April 25. — " The morning employed, with little suc- 
cess, on the same subject. I still find it too spiritual 
for my carnal heart. My mind distressed with doubts 
whether I shall make the people observe the Sabbath, 
by causing them to lie by : but on considering that 
they would not think it a favor, but, on the contrary, 
a vexation, that they could not sanctify it, and that I 
had not given the mangee notice before setting out, I 
resolved to go on ; though I felt by no means easy. 



231 MEMOIR OF 

Before setting out again, I hope to make up my mind 
satisfactorily on this subject." 

April 26. — " In prayer at the appointed hour, I felt 
solemnity of mind and an earnest desire that the Lord 
would pour out a double portion of his Spirit upon us 
his ministers in India ; that every one of us may be 
eminent in holiness and ministerial gifts. If I were to 
judge for myself, I should fear that God had forsaken 
his church ; for I am most awfully deficient in the 
knowledge and experience requisite for a minister ; 
but my dear brother Corrie, thanks be to God, is a 
man of a better spirit : may he grow more and more 
in grace, and continue to be an example to us ! Passed 
the day in reading and prayer, such as my prayers 
are. My soul struggled with corruption, yet I found 
the merit and grace of Jesus all-sufficient and all-sup- 
porting. Though my guilt seemed like mountains, I 
considered it as no reason for departing from Christ, 
but rather for clinging to him more closely. Thus 1 
got through the day, cast down, but not destroyed. 
The account of David's fall affected me more tenderly 
than ever it did, and I could not help weeping over the 
fall of that man of God. Began Scott's Essays, and 
was surprised indeed at the originality and vigor of the 
sentiments and language. At eight arrived at Patna." 

April 27.—" Left Patna and arrived at Dinapore. 
The concourse of people in that great city was a so- 
lemn admonition to me to be diligent in study and 
prayer. Thousands of intelligent people together: no 
Sabbath — no word of God — no one to give them ad- 
vice. How inscrutable the ways of God !" 

Mr. Martyn had no sooner returned to Dinapore, 



HENRY MARTYN. 235 

than he heard, to his sorrow and surprise, that the 
Ranee, to whom he had sent a Testament, together 
with some advice upon the subject of religion, was 
about to despatch a messenger to him, to request a 
letter of recommendation to one of the judges, before 
whom she had a cause pending, in which her domi- 
nions were at stake. " I felt hurt," he says, " at consi- 
dering how low a sovereign princess must have fallen 
to make such a request, but lost no time in apprising 
her that our laws were perfectly distinct from the di- 
vine laws, and that therefore this was no affair of 
mine, as she seemed to suppose it to be." 

In Mr. Martyn's schools so much progress had now 
been made, that it became necessary to determine 
what books should be placed in the hands of the chil- 
dren who could read. To give them at first the book 
of the parables which he had prepared for their use, 
would, it was feared, awaken suspicion in the breasts 
of their parents, who had already shown much jea- 
lousy respecting his designs. He therefore deemed it 
the wisest measure to permit them to use one of the 
Hindoo books, after having had it previously read to 
him. It was a book which, if it did no good, could, he 
thought, do no harm; as it was an old Hinduwee 
poem, on an Avatar of Vishnu, which it was impossi- 
ble for the children to understand. 

His judgment on this question — one of some diffi- 
culty and embarrassment — is thus given in a letter to 
Mr. Corrie : " Your schools flourish — blessed be God I 
The Dinapore school is resorted to from all quarters, 
even from the other side of the river. The Bankipore 
school is also going on well. I do not institute more 



236 MEMOIR OF 

till I see the Christian books introduced. The more 
schools the more noise, and the more inquiry, and 
the greater suspicion of its being of a political nature. 
Besides, if all the schools were to come to a demur to- 
gether, I fear their deciding against us : but if one or 
two schools, with much thought about it, comply with 
our wishes, it will be a precedent and example to 
others. I think you should not dictate which of their 
books-should be given ; but only reserve the power of 
rejecting, amongst those which they propose. I bless 
God that you are brought to act with me on a broad 
and cautious plan : but I trust our motto will be, ' con 
stant, though cautious ;' never ceasing to keep our at- 
tention steadily fixed on the state of things ; and be- 
ing swift to embrace every opportunity." 

Amidst many causes of discouragement — from the 
inattention of the women who attended his expositions 
on the Sabbath, the general profanation of that holy 
day by Europeans, notwithstanding his solemn and 
repeated remonstrances, and the vacillating conduct 
of some of his flock, whom he had hoped to have seen 
stronger and bolder in their Master's cause — a letter 
from a young officer, desiring, at this time, an ac- 
quaintance with Mr. Martyn, on a religious account, 
was to him a source of the most cheering delight. 
And yet, even before the receipt of it, he could bless 
God that he felt "impregnable to any discouragement." 
" It was not," said he, " that I was indifferent, or that 
I saw some encouraging circumstances; but I was 
made to reflect that I was the servant of God in these 
things, and that he would surely bring his purposes to 
pass, in some way or other." 



HENRY MAKTYN. 237 

In addition to Mr. Marty n's studies in Sanscrit, 
Persian, and Hindoostanee, we find him now sedu 
lously employed in reading Leland against the deis- 
tical writers; and thence drawing out arguments 
against the Koran. But being fearful lest, in the 
midst of these pursuits, his spirit should decline as to 
more important points, he thus speaks: "May my 
soul, in prayer, never rest satisfied without the enjoy- 
ment of God ! May ail my thoughts be fixed on him ! 
May I sit so loose to every employment here, that I 
may be able, at a moment's warning, to take my de- 
parture for another world ! May I be taught to re- 
member that all other studies are merely subservient 
to the great work of ministering holy things to immor- 
tal souls ! May the most holy works of the ministry, 
and those which require most devotedness of soul, be 
the most dear to my heart !" 

Mr. Martyn, whilst thus occupied, was called to the 
decision of a practical question of greater moment than 
that respecting the introduction of books into the 
schools; application having been made by one of the 
native women, to be received to the communion, though 
she manifested no signs of penitence or faith, and could 
by no means be made to comprehend that any thing 
further was necessary to constitute a Christian than 
to say the Lord's Prayer. As he found himself com- 
pelled to deny her request, " she went away," he says. 
" in great distress ;" but he adopted the steadfast de- 
termination to reject all candidates for admission into 
the Church of England, who were manifestly ignorant 
of the spirit of Christianity, though convinced of the 
truth of it; and the decision was doubtless agreeable 



238 MEMOIR OK 

to the word of God, and to the practice of the primi- 
tive times. 

Much time, as we have already seen, had been de- 
voted by Mr. Marty n to the translation of the Scrip- 
tures into Hindoostanee, both before and after he 
quitted Calcutta. To these exertions for the honor and 
glory of God a new stimulus was added, in the month 
of June in this year, by a proposal from the Rev. Da- 
vid Brown, that he would engage more directly in that 
important work ; in which he had already proceeded 
to the end of the Acts of the Apostles; and also that 
he would superintend the translation of the Scriptures 
into Persian. This proposal he eagerly, yet diffidently, 
accepted ; and animated by the expectation of behold- 
ing his labors brought to a successful termination, he 
prosecuted them with a delight commensurate with 
his ardent diligence. 

"The time fled imperceptibly," he observes, "while 
so delightfully engaged in the translations ; the days 
seemed to have passed like a moment. Blessed be God 
for some improvement in the languages ! May every 
thing be for edification in the church ! What do I not 
owe to the Lord, for permitting me to take part in a 
translation of his word I never did I see such wonder 
and wisdom, and love in the blessed book, as since I 
have been obliged to study every expression ; and ii 
is a delightful reflection, that death cannot deprive us 
of the pleasure of studying its mysteries." 

" All day on the translations : employed a good 
while at night in considering a difficult passage ; and 
being much enlightened respecting it, I went to bed 
full of astonishment at the wonder of God's word, 



HENRY iMARTYN. 239 

never before did I see any thing of the beauty of the 
language and the importance of the thoughts as I do 
now. I felt happy that I should never be finally sepa 
rated from the contemplation of them, or of the things' 
about which they are written. Knowledge shall van 
ish away, but it shall be because perfection shall come 
Then shall I see as I am seen, and know as T am 
known." 

" What a source of perpetual delight have I in the 
precious book of God ! that my heart were more 
spiritual, to keep pace with my understanding, and 
that I could feel as I know ! May my root and founda- 
tion be deep in love, and may I be able to ' compre- 
hend, with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, 
and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, 
which passeth knowledge I' And may I be filled with 
all the fullness of God !" He adds, in his accustomed 
spirit of incessant watchfulness, " May the Lord, in 
mercy to my soul, save me from setting up an idol of 
any sort in his place ; as I do by preferring even a 
work professedly done for him, to communion with 
him. How obstinate is the reluctance of the natural 
heart to love God! But, O my soul, be not deceived ; 
thy chief work upon earth is, to obtain sanctification, 
and to walk with God. ' To obey is better than sacri- 
fice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.' Let me learn 
from this, that to follow the direct injunctions of God, 
as to my own soul, is more my duty than to be en- 
gaged in other works, under pretence of doing him 
service w 



240 MEMOIR OF 



CHAPTER VII. 

DEATH OF HIS ELDEST SISTER — LETTERS TO HIS FRIENDS— ARRI- 
VAL OF MIRZA AND SABAT — TRIALS WITH SABAT DECLINING 

HEALTH — REMOYAL TO CAWNPORE — DEATH OF HIS YOUNGEST 
SISTER — HEALTH MORE IMPAIRED — DETERMINES TO YISIT ARA^ 

EIA AND PERSIA — LEAVES CAWNPORE FOR CALCUTTA DEPARTS 

FOR ARABIA. 

Scarcely had Mr. Martyn girded up his loins with 
the great and heavenly design of completing a version 
of the Scriptures in Hindoostanee, and of superintend- 
ing one in the Persian tongue, when the sovereign, 
wise, and infinite love of his God summoned him to 
endure an affliction, more grievous than any which 
had befallen him since those first bitter tears which he 
shed at the death of his father. Apprehensions of the 
loss of his eldest sister had been excited in his mind, 
by some expressions she herself had dropped in a let- 
ter, which reached him a few weeks before he received 
the fatal intelligence that she was no more. A period 
of torturing suspense terminated in one of inexpressi- 
ble sorrow. But " blessed is the man whom thou 
chastenest, Lord." Gleams of this blessedness shone 
forth from the cloud of that dark dispensation with 
which Mr. Martyn was now visited. " O my heart, my 
heart," he exclaimed fct is it, can it be true ! that she 
has been lying so many months in the cold grave! 
Would that I could always remember it, or always 
forget it j but to think for a moment of other things, 



HENRY MARTYN. 241 

and then to feel the remembrance of it coming, as if 
for the first time, rends my heart asunder. When I 
look round upon the creation, and think that her eyes 
see it not, but have closed upon it for ever — that I lie 
down in my bed, but that she has lain down in her 
grave — O I is it possible ? I wonder to find myself still 
in life ; that the same tie which united us in life, has 
not brought death at the same moment to both. O 
great and gracious God! what should I do without 
thee ! But now thou art manifesting thyself as the God 
of all consolation to my soul : never was I so near thee ; 
I stand on the brink, and long to take my flight. There 
is not a thing in the world for which I could wish to 
live, except the hope that it may please God to appoint 
me some work. And how shall my soul ever be thank- 
ful enough to thee, O thou most incomprehensibly 
glorious Savior, Jesus ! O what hast thou done to alle- 
viate the sorrows of life ! and how great has been the 
mercy of God towards my family, in saving us all ! 
How dreadful would be the separation of relations in 
death, were it not for Jesus !" 

Mr. Martyn's mind, under this painful deprivation, 
was exceedingly comforted by a sure and certain hope, 
as it respected her for whom he mourned. That de- 
lightful expectation of meeting her in glory, which he 
has now realized, was one powerful support to his 
heart, then overwhelmed within him: for the letter 
which contained the account of his loss, happily left 
him no room to doubt of his sister's eternal gain ; and 
that, through the grave and gate of death, she had 
passed into the consummation of bliss, in the eternal 
and everlasting kingdom of Christ. 

Martya. 1£> 



242 MEMOIR OF 

{l The European letter," he wrote to Mr. Brown, 
4 contained the intelligence of the death of my eldest 
sister. A few lines received from herself about three 
weeks ago, gave me some melancholy forebodings of 
her danger. But though the Lord thus compassionate- 
ly prepared me for this affliction, I hardly knew how 
to bear it. We were more united in affection to each 
other, than to any of our relations ; and now she is 
gone, I am left to fulfill, as a hireling, my day, and then 
I shall follow her. She had been many years under 
some conviction of her sins, but not till her last illness 
had she sought in earnest for salvation. Some weeks 
before her death she felt the burden of sin, and cried 
earnestly for pardon and deliverance ; and continued 
in the diligent use of the appointed means of grace. 
Two days before her death, when no immediate dan 
ger was apprehended, my youngest sister visited her, 
and was surprised and delighted at the change which 
had taken place. Her convictions of sin were deep, 
and her views clear ; her only fear was on account of 
her own unworthiness. She asked, with many tears, 
whether there was mercy for one who had been so 
great a sinner ; though in the eyes of the world she had 
been an exemplary wife and mother ; and said that she 
believed the Lord would have mercy upon her, because 
she knew he had wrought on her mind by his Spirit 
Two days after this conversation, she suddenly and 
unexpectedly left this world of wo, while her sister was 
visiting a dying friend at a distance. This, you will 
tell me, is precious consolation ; indeed, I am constrain- 
ed to acknowledge that I could hardly ask for greater • 
for I had already parted with her for ever in this life , 



HENRY MAKTYN. '^43 

and. in parting, all I wished for was, to hear of her be- 
ing converted to God, and, if it was his will, taken 
away, in due time, from the evil to eome, and brought 
to glory before me. Yet human nature bleeds ; her de- 
parture has left this world a frightful blank to me ; 
and I feel not the smallest wish to live, except there be 
some work assigned for me to do in the church of God." 
Acutely as Mr. Martyn suffered, such importance did 
he attach to those studies which had in view the mani- 
festation of the Gospel to regions " sitting in darkness 
and the shadow of death," that he omitted the prose- 
cution of them, at this period, only for a single day. 
It was a duty he thought incumbent on him, to return 
to his work as soon as possible, however heavily his 
mind might be burdened ; but his expressions, many 
days afterwards, declare into what depths of grief he 
was sunk. " My heart," said he, " is still oppressed, 
but it is not " a sorrow that worketh death." Though 
nature weeps at being deprived of all hopes of ever 
seeing this dear companion on earth, faith is thereby 
brought the more into exercise. How sweet to feel 
dead to all below ; to live only for eternity ; to forget 
the short interval that lies between us and the spiritual 
world ; and to live always seriously. The seriousness 
which this sorrow produces is indescribably precious ; 
O that I could always retain it, when these impres- 
sions shall be worn away ! My studies have been the 
Arabic grammar, and Persian ; writing Luke for the 
women, and dictating 1 Peter, i, to my Moonshee. 
Finished the Gulistan of Sadi, and began it again, in 
order to mark all the phrases which may be of use in 
the translation of the Scriptures." 



244 MEMOIR OF 

One fruit of Mr. Martyn's prayers, and result of lis 
prudence, was the successful introduction into his 
schools, shortly after this, of the sermon on the 
Mount; and on the 21st of September he had the ex- 
quisite joy of hearing the poor heathen boys reading 
the words of the Lord Jesus. " A wise man's heart,** 
says Solomon, " discerneth both time and judgment. 51 
It was in this spirit of patient and dependent wisdom 
that Mr. Martyn had acted respecting the schools ; and 
it was the same rare temper of mind which prevailed 
on him still to abstain from preaching publicly to the 
natives : again and again did he burn to begin his min- 
istry in Patna ; but again and again did he feel deeply 
the importance of not being precipitate. It was not,- 
however, without much difficulty that he checked the 
ardor of his zeal. He was determined to see what the 
institution of schools and the quiet distribution of the 
Scriptures and Tracts would effect; and was con- 
vinced that public preaching at first was incompatible 
with his plan of procedure ; whereas it was clear that 
a way would thus be opened for preaching, of which 
object he never lost sight. It was this which made 
him resist the solicitations of those friends who wou^d 
have detained him at Calcutta ; and this it was which 
now occasioned him to decline a very pressing invita- 
tion from Mr. Brown, urging him to take the Mission 
Church at the Presidency. Dinapore was in the midst 
of the heathen ; and Dinapore, further, was a scene of 
tranquil retirement. These two considerations caused 
Mr. Martyn to refuse to comply with the very earnest 
desire of one whom he entirely esteemed and loved 
" If ever I am fixed at Calcutta," he wrote in reply, 



HENRY MARTYN. 245 

"I have done with the natives; for, notwithstanding 
previous determinations, the churches and people at 
Calcutta are enough to employ twenty ministers. This 
is one reason for my apparently unconquerable aver- 
sion to being fixed there. The happiness of being near 
and with you and your dear family, would not be a 
compensation for this disappointment; and having 
said this, I know of no stronger method of expressing 
my dislike to the measure. If God commands it, I 
trust I shall have grace to obey : but let me beseech 
you all to take no step towards it ; for I shall resist it 
as long as I can with a safe conscience." 

" I am happier here, in this remote land," he wrote 
in his journal, " where I hear so seldom of what hap- 
pens in the world, than in England, where there are 
so many calls to look at ' the things that are seen.' 
How sweet the retirement in which I here live ! The 
precious word is now my only study, in the work of 
translation. Though in a manner buried to the world v 
neither seeing nor seen by Europeans, the time flows 
on here with great rapidity : it seems as if life would 
be gone before any thing is done, or even before any 
is begun. I sometimes rejoice that I am not twenty- 
seven years of age ; and that, unless God should order 
it otherwise, I may double the number in constant 
and successful labor. If not, God has many, many 
more instruments at command; and I shall not cease 
from my happiness, and scarcely from my work, by 
departing into another world. O ! what shall sepa- 
rate us from the love of Christ! Neither death nor 
life, I am persuaded. O ! let me feel my security, 
that I may be, as it were, already in heaven ; that I 



246 MEMOIR OF 

may do all my work as the angels do theirs; and O ! 
let me be ready for every work ! be ready to leave 
this delightful solitude, or remain in it — to go out, or 
go in — to stay, or depart, just as the Lord shall ap- 
point. Lord, let me have no will of my own ; nor con- 
sider my true happiness as depending in the smallest 
degree on any thing that can befall my outward man ; 
but as consisting altogether in conformity to God's 
will. May I have Christ here with me in this world, 
not substituting imagination in the place of faith ; but 
seeing outward things as they really are, and thus ob- 
taining a radical conviction of their vanity. 

Mr. Martyn's spirits being much depressed by his 
recent affliction, an invitation, or rather entreaty, so 
strongly pressed upon him by one who had a great 
share in his affection and esteem, but which called, as 
he conceived, for a direct and firm rejection, could not 
but be a matter of some disquiet to him. He had not, 
however, the additional pain of witnessing the slight- 
est variation in his friend's attachment; a circum- 
stance which does not always occur on similar occa- 
sions ; for the fondness even of Christian friendship 
will sometimes suffer an interruption from a disagree- 
ment respecting favorite projects and designs. 

To this perturbation of mind, comparatively light, 
a very severe disappointment from another quarter 
succeeded — a disappointment intended doubtless, like 
his other troubles, for the augmentation of his faith. 
Such strong representations had been made by those 
whose judgment he highly valued, respecting the drea- 
riness of a distant station in India and the evils of so- 
litude, that he had deemed it agreeable to the will of 



HENRY MARTY N. 247 

God to make an overture of marriage to her, for whom 
time had increased, rather than diminished, his affec- 
tion. This overture, for reasons which afterwards 
commended themselves to Mr. Marty n's own judg- 
ment, was now declined ; on which occasion, suffer- 
ing sharply as a man, but most meekly as a Christian, 
he said, " The Lord sanctify this ; and since this last 
desire of my heart is also withheld, may I turn away 
for ever from the world, and henceforth live forgetful 
of all but God. With thee, O my God, is no disap- 
pointment. I shall never have cause to regret that I 
have loved thee too well. Thou hast said, ' Delight 
thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires 
of thy heart. 5 " 

"At first I was more grieved," he wrote some time 
afterwards, "at the loss of my gourd, than for all the 
perishing Ninevehs around me: but now my earthly 
woes and earthly attachments seem to be absorbing in 
the vast concern of communicating the Gospel to these 
nations. After this last lesson from God, on the va- 
nity of the creature, I feel desirous to be nothing — to 
have nothing — to ask for nothing but what he gives." 
Providentially for Mr. Marty n's comfort, his thoughts 
were much occupied, just after the receipt of this let 
ter, by the arrival of his coadjutors in the work of 
translation. One of them, Mirza of Benares, was well 
known in India as an eminent Hindoostanee scholar ; 
the other, Sabat the Arabian, since but too well known 
both in India and England, by his rejection of that 
faith which he then appeared to profess in sincerity 
and truth. In the latter of these Mr. Martyn confident 
ly trusted that he had found a Christian brother Nor 



248 MEMOIR OF 

were these hopes respecting Sabat's religious charac- 
ter more sanguine than both in reason and charity he 
might fairly have entertained. Of his abilities a most 
favorable report had been made by Dr. Kerr, of Mad- 
ras, who represented him as a man of good family in 
Arabia — as having been employed as an expounder of 
Mohammedan law at Masulipatam — and as being well 
skilled in the literature of his country. With respect 
to the reality of his belief in Christianity, although 
Mr. Martyn immediately discovered in him an un- 
subdued Arab spirit, and witnessed, with pain, many 
deflections from that temper and conduct which he 
himself so eminently exemplified, yet he could not but 
"believe all things, and hope all things," even while 
he continued to suffer much from him, and for a 
length of time, with unparalleled forbearance and 
kindness. How could he allow himself to cherish any 
doubt, when he beheld the tears he shed in prayer, and 
listened to the confessions he made of his sinfulness, 
and to the professions he uttered of his willingness to 
correct whatever was reprehensible in his behavior ? 
No sooner had he arrived at Dinapore, than he opened 
to Mr. Martyn the state of his mind ; declaring, with 
seeming contrition, that the constant sin he found in 
his heart filled him with fear " If the spirit of Christ 
is given to believers, why," said he, " am I thus, after 
three years' believing ? I determine every day to keep 
Christ crucified in sight ; but soon I forget to think of 
him. I can rejoice when I think of God's love in 
Christ : but then I am like a sheep that feeds happily 
whilst he looks only at the pasturage before him ; but 
when he looks behind, and sees the lion, he cannot 



HENRY MARTYN. 249 

eat." " His life," he avowed, " was of no value to him , 
the experience he had had of the instability of the 
world had weaned him from it; his heart was like a 
looking-glass, fit for nothing except to be given to the 
glass-maker to be moulded anew." Can we wonder 
concerning one who uttered, with apparent sincerity 
and much earnestness, sentiments such as these, that 
Mr. Martyn should observe to Mr. Brown, who had 
sent him from Calcutta to Dinapore, that " not to es- 
teem him a monument of grace, and to love him, is 
impossible ?" And truly, notwithstanding all that time 
has since developed, who will not hesitate in attribut- 
ing to Sabat the guilt of a systematic and well-con- 
certed tissue of hypocrisy ; and prefer to conclude 
that his judgment was at that time enlightened, and 
his heart in some measure impressed with a sense of 
what he believed ? Very soon, indeed, was Mr. Mar- 
tyn called to rejoice over this Mohammedan convert 
with great fear and trembling ; for scarcely had he 
reached Dinapore, when the violence of his temper 
began to manifest itself. The first Sunday after his ar- 
rival, on coming to church, conceiving that all due 
respect was not shown him, he would not wait till 
service began, but abruptly left the church and re- 
turned home ; yet, on Mr. Martyn's expostulations on 
his turning his back upon the house of God, on ac- 
count of an insult which was unintended, he instantly 
confessed, with seeming humiliation, that he had two 
dispositions ; the one, his old one, which was a sol- 
dier's, and the other a Christian's. 

Many other signs of an unhumbled spirit in Sabat 
gave rise to differences which were singularly distress- 



250 ' MEMOIR OF 

ing to a man of such meekness as Mr. Marty n. Even 
before the conclusion of that year, which when Sabat 
entered under Mr. Martyn's roof was drawing to a 
close, he was so grieved at his spirit that he could find 
relief only in prayer for him Yet, however disquieted 
he might, and could not but be, at what he was called 
hourly to witness in one brought into such near con- 
tact with him, and bearing the name of a Christian 
brother, his own mind nevertheless enjoyed a large 
measure of "that perfect peace" in which those are 
kept whose minds are stayed on God. He was con- 
tinually " rejoicing in the solid ground of Jesus' im- 
puted righteousness ;" the greatness, the magnificence, 
the wisdom of which filled his mind ; he was conti- 
nually thinking, " Oh ! how is every hour lost that is 
not spent in the love and contemplation of God, my 
God 1 O send out thy light and thy truth, that I may 
live always sincerely, always affectionately towards 
Thee I" — " To live without sin I cannot expect in this 
world : but to desire to live without it, may be the ex 
perience of every moment." And he closed the year 
like him who, at the end of a psalm of holy and joyful 
aspirations, exclaims, " I have gone astray like a lost 
sheep," in the following strain of brokenness of spirit 
and abasement of soul : " I seem to myself permitted 
to exist only through the inconceivable compassion of 
God. When I think of my shameful incapacity for the 
ministry, arising from my own neglect, I see reason to 
tremble, though I cannot weep. I feel willing to be a neg- 
lected outcast, unfit to be made useful to others, provid- 
ed my dear brethren are prosperous in their ministry.'' 
In the midst of various weighty employments, and 



HENRV MARTYN. 251 

of much tribulation, Mr. Martyn passed into the year 
1808 ; on the first day of which he thus reverted to his 
past life : " Few or no changes have occurred in the 
course of the last year. I have been more settled than 
for many years past. The events which have taken 
place, most nearly interesting to myself are my sister's 

death, and my disappointment about L ; on both 

these afflictions I have seen love inscribed, and that is 
enough. What I think I want, it is better still to want : 
but I am often wearied with this world of wo. I set 
my affections on the creature, and am then torn from 
it ; and from various other causes, particularly the pre- 
valence of sin in my heart, I am often so full of me- 
lancholy that I hardly know what to do for relief. 
Sometimes I say, ; Oh that I had wings like a dove, 
then would I flee away and be at rest 5' at other times, 
in my sorrow about the creature, I have no wish left 
for my heavenly rest. It is the grace and favor of God 
that have saved me hitherto : my ignorance, wayward- 
ness and wickedness, would long since have plunged 
me into misery ; but there seems to be a mighty exer- 
tion of mercy and grace upon my sinful nature, every 
day, to keep me from perishing at last. My attainments 
in the divine life, in this last year, seem to be none at 
all ; I appear, on the contrary, to be more self-willed 
and perverse ; and more like many of my countrymen, 
in arrogance and a domineering spirit over the natives. 
The Lord save me from my wickedness ! Henceforth 
let my soul, humbly depending upon the grace of 
Christ, perfect holiness in the fear of God, and show 
towards all, whether Europeans or natives, the mind 
that was in Christ Jesus." 



252 MEMOIR OF 

In the beginning of this year Mr. Martyn's situation 
at Dinapore was rendered far less agreeable than here- 
tofore — much as he loved retirement — by the remo- 
val of the only family with whom he lived upon terms 
of Christian intimacy ; a family for whom he had no 
common affection ; to whom he had been the means 
of first imparting serious impressions; whom he had 
exhorted, watched over, and prayed for ; and whom he 
unceasingly followed with his intercessions, when he 
could no longer reach them with his exhortations. 

"The departure of ," he writes, "seemed to leave 

me without human comfort; my regard for them has 
increased very much of late ; I have seen marks of 
grace more evidently. It is painful to be deprived of 
them just at this time; yet the Lord knoweth them 
that are his, and will keep them, through faith, unto 
eternal salvation." The following is an extract of a 
letter to Mrs. on this occasion : 

11 Dinapore, January 8, 1808. 
" Your departure has left the Arab and me in such 
gloom, that I cannot yet find in his society a supply 
for yours. I still continue, therefore, one of your 
camp followers, often every day accompanying you 
in my thoughts as you travel along; and I now des- 
patch some China paper, to overtake you, and assure 
you once more of my good wishes and prayers. After 
leaving you on Monday, I crossed the river and so- 
lemnized the nuptials of , without the interven- 
tion of any thing untoward. Next morning, at Patna, 
I walked out in hopes of having one more sight of the 
battalion and my friends in it. But some of the slow 






HENRY MARTYN. 253 

moving baggage hackeries only, in the rear, showed 
where you had passed. The nearness of your second 
day's camp was a strong temptation to add myself 
again to your number ; and it might have been easily 
accomplished ; but the pain of repeated farewells de- 
terred me from going. So I set my face towards Di- 
napore again ; and now, as often as I traverse, in my 
evening walk, the spot where the pale grass marks 
your former abode ; and as often as I bring out the 
Koran from the book-room, without taking up the He- 
brew for you, I join with Sabat in regretting that 'the 
faithful is gone. 5 But only continue to deserve the 
name, my dear friends, and we shall sorrow the less 
at your departure. Cleave to him in duty, in affection, 
in bearing his reproach, and we are never separated. 
If I am so happy as to hear good tidings of you, and 
that you grow in faith and love, I shall be contented. 
Friendship must not selfishly repine at a separation 
appointed by God. Yesterday a letter came from 

P , who says that trials are awaiting you; that 

your gay friends will oppose, &c. ; but enter Burham- 
pore armed with strong resolutions, and depending on 
the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and you will stand 
firm." 

This separation affected him the more sensibly, be- 
cause it was not in every family at that station that he 
met with a kind, much less a cordial reception. " I call- 
ed," says he, " on the 15th of January, on one of the 
Dinapore families, and felt my pride rise at the uncivil 
manner in which I was received. I was disposed at 
first to determine never to visit the house again, but I 
remembered the words, 'Overcome evil with good. 5 " 



254 MEMOIR OF 

So much as Mr. Martyn was concerned for the sal- 
vation of the heathen, it will readily be surmised that 
the state of the native Christians, sunk as they were 
into a condition of equal ignorance and wickedness 
with the heathen, would excite his peculiar sympathy 
and anxiety. Their lamentable case was never for- 
gotten by him. At the commencement of the present 
year, especially, it lay so near his heart that he re- 
solved to ascertain what might be effected at Patna in 
behalf of those wretched people who " had a name to 
live, but were dead." Without loss of time, therefore, 
he made an offer to the Roman Catholics there, of 
preaching to them on Sundays ; but the proposal was 
rejected. Had it been accepted, he proposed to have 
made it the ground- work of a more extensive publica- 
tion of the Gospel to the inhabitants at large. " Mil- 
lions perishing," he said, much affected at the reflec- 
tion, " in the neighborhood of one who can preach the 
Gospel to them ! how wonderful ! I trust the Lord 
will soon open a great and effectual door. O for faith, 
zeal, courage, love !" 

In consequence of the state of the weather at this 
season of the year, the public celebration of divine 
service on the Sabbath was suspended for a considera- 
ble time at Dinapore ; a circumstance as painful to 
Mr. Martyn, as it was pleasing to the careless and 
worldly part of his congregation. Upon the serious in- 
convenience, and yet more serious detriment to the 
spiritual interest of his flock, arising from the want of 
a church, he had already presented a memorial to the 
governor-general ; and orders to provide a proper 
place for public worship had been issued : nothing ef- 



HENRY MARTYN. 255 

fectual, however, was yet done; and Mr. Martyn's love 
for the souls intrusted to him not allowing him to bear 
the thought of their being scattered for a length of 
time, as sheep without a shepherd ; he came to the 
resolution of opening his own house, as a place in 
which the people might assemble in this emergency. 
About the middle of February he writes, " As many 
of the European regiment as were effective were ac- 
commodated under my roof; and, praised be God, 
we had the public ordinances once more. My text was 
from Isaiah, 4:5. ' The Lord will create upon every 
dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon her assem- 
blies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a 
flaming fire by night : for upon all, the glory shall be 
a defence. 5 In the afternoon I waited for the women, 
but not one came : perhaps, by some mistake, notice 
had not been given them. At the hospital, and with 
the men at night, I was engaged, as usual, in prayer ; 
my soul panted after the living God, but it remained 
tied and bound with corruption. I felt as if I could have 
given the world to be brought to be alone with God ; 
and the promise that c this is the will of God, even our 
sanctification,' was the right hand that upheld me while 
I followed after him. When low in spirits, through 
an unwillingness to take up the cross, I found myself 
more resigned in endeavoring to realize the thought 
which had often composed me in my trials on board 
the ship, namely, that I was born to suffer ; that suf- 
fering is my appointed daily portion ; let this reconcile 
me to every thing. To have a will of my own, not 
agreeable to God's, is a most tremendous wickedness. 
I own it is so, for a few moments ; but, Lord, write it 



25G MEMOIR OF 

on my heart. In perfect meekness and resignation 
let me take whatever befalls me in the path of duty, 
and never dare to think of being dissatisfied." 

As far as it respected Mr. Martyn's health, a tempo- 
rary interruption of his ministerial duty would have 
proved a favorable occurrence ; he was beginning again 
to suffer from some severe pains in the chest, which 
first attacked him in the autumn of the preceding year. 
Desiring to be as " a flame of fire in the service of his 
God, and panting for the full employment of every 
day," the early morning, as well as the closing even- 
ing, found him engaged in his delightful labors ; but 
he perceived that the body could not keep pace with 
the soul, in this career of unceasing activity: "the 
earthly tabernacle weighed down the spirit, whilst 
musing upon many things," and compelled him, for a 
while at least, to moderate the vehemence of these 
exertions. By the month of March, however, the great 
work, for which myriads in the ages yet to come will 
gratefully remember and revere the name of Martyn, 
the Version of the New Testament in Hindoostanee 
was brought to a completion ; nor, if we consider how 
much time he had spent upon it ever since he arrived 
at Calcutta, and how laboriously he prosecuted it after 
Mr. Brown had summoned him to direct all his efforts 
to that end, can it be affirmed that it was hurried to a 
conclusion with a heedless and blamable precipitancy ? 

" Twas not the hasty product of a day, 
But the well-ripened fruit of wise delay." 

fcf It is a real refreshment to my spirit," Mr e Martyn 
remarks to Mr. Corrie, just at the moment of sending 
off the first page of the Testament to Calcutta, in tha 



HENRY MARTYN. 257 

beginning of April, " to take up my pen to write to 
you. Such a week of labor I believe I never passed, 
not excepting even the last week before going into the 
Senate-House. I have read and corrected the manu- 
script copies of my Hindoostanee Testament so often 
that my eyes ache. The heat is terrible, often at 98° ; 
the nights insupportable." Such was his energy in a 
climate tending to beguile him into ease and indolence ; 
so entirely " whatsoever he had to do," did he " do it 
with all his might." 

Throughout the remainder of the year 1808, till his 
removal to Cawnpore, Mr. Martyn's life flowed on in 
the same tranquil course of usefulness and uniformity. 
He was occupied in revising the sheets of the Hindoos- 
tanee version of the New Testament, which he had 
completed ; he superintended the Persian translation 
confided to Sabat ; he gave himself to the study of 
Arabic, that he might be qualified to take part with 
Sabat in another version of the New Testament into 
that tongue ; he continued also to minister to the Eu- 
ropeans and the natives at the hospital; and he daily 
received the more religious part of his flock at his own 
house whilst his health permitted. A serious attack, 
similar to that which he experienced on his journey to 
Portsmouth, occurred towards the end of the summer, 
and was productive of the following effusion, bearing 
a pre-eminent impress of the Spirit of God. No one, 
surely, ever touched a string more in union with the 
harps of angels and saints in light, than he who wrote 
thus on the evening of a day expected to be his last. 

"I little thought to have had my faith brought to a 
trial so soon. This morning, while getting up, I found 

Marty n. 17 



258 MEMOIR OF 

a pain in the centre of my body, which increased to 
such a degree that fever and vertigo came on, and I 
fainted. The dreadful sensation was like what I once 
felt in England, but by no means so violent or long 
continued — as then, also, I was alone. After recover- 
ing rny senses, and lying in pain which made me al- 
most breathless, I turned my thoughts to God j and 
O ! praise to his grace and love, I felt no fear ; but I 
prayed earnestly that I might have a little relief, to 
set my house in order and make my will. I also 
thought, with pain, of leaving the Persian Gospels un- 
finished. By means of some ether, the Lord gave me 
ease, and I made my will. The day was spent in great 
weakness, but my heart was often filled with the 
sweetest peace and gratitude for the precious things 
God hath done for me." 

"1 found delight at night in considering, from the 
beginning, all that God had done in creation, provi- 
dence, and] grace, for my soul. O God of love, how 
shall I praise thee ! happiness, bliss for ever, lies be- 
fore me. Thou hast brought me upon this stage of life 
to see what sin and misery are ; myself, alas ! most 
deeply partaking in both. But the days and the works 
of my former state, fraught with danger and with 
death, are no more ; and the God of benevolence and 
love hath opened to me brighter prospects. Thine I 
am ; ' My beloved is mine, and I am his ; and now I 
want none but Thee. I am alone with Thee in this 
world; and when I put off this mortal tabernacle, I 
shall still be with Thee, whatever that unknown 
change may be 5 and I shall be before Thee, not to re- 
ceive honor, but to ascribe praise. Yes ! I shall then 



HENRY MARTYN. 259 

have power to express my feelings ; I shall then, with- 
out intermission, see and love, and no cloud of sor- 
row overcast my mind. I shall then sing, in worthy, 
everlasting strains 3 the praises of that divine Redeem- 
er, whose works of love now reach beyond my con- 
ception ! 

From the even tenor of his life at this period, it can- 
not be expected that incidents of a very striking na- 
ture should arise ; yet the description which he him- 
self has given of it in the following extracts, drawn 
chiefly from a free and frequent correspondence with 
his endeared friends and brethren, the Rev. David 
Brown, and the Rev. Daniel Corrie, will not be wholly 
devoid of interest to those who have hitherto watched 
him, with love and admiration, on his way to heaven. 

" April 16, 1808, 
" This day I have received yours of the 8th : liko 
the rest of your letters, it sets my thoughts on full 
gallop, from which I can hardly recover my breath. 
Sabat's letter I hesitate to give him, lest it should make 
him unhappy again. He is at this moment more quiet 
and Christian in his deportment than I have yet seen 
him. Arabic now employs my few moments of lei- 
sure. In consequence of reading the Koran with Sa- 
bat audibly, and drinking no wine, the slander has 
gone forth amongst the Christians at Patna, that the 
Dinapore Padre has turned Mussulman. 
" To the Rev. X>. Brownr 

" April 26, 1808. 
"This day I sent off a chapter of Hindoostanee, of 
St. Matthew. The name I design for my work is — 



26C MEMOIR OF 

Benonij the son of my affliction,- for through great 
tribulation will it come out. Sabat has kept me much 
upon the fret this week. When he had reached the 
ninth chapter, the idea seized him that Mirza might 
receive some honor from his inspecting the work. He 
stopped immediately ; and, say what I will, he deter- 
mines not to give me the smallest help in correcting 
the Hindoostanee. 

* To the Rev. D. Brown: 1 

" May 9th, 1808. 

" Sabat, having one of his hjead-aches, leaves me 
at liberty to take a complete sheet. This week has 
passed as usual, in comparing the Persian and Greek ; 
yet we are advanced no further than the end of the 
15th of Matthew. Notwithstanding the vexation and 
disappointment Sabat has occasioned me, I have en- 
joyed a more peaceable week than ever since his 
arrival. I do not know how you find the heat, but here 
it is dreadful : in one person's quarters yesterday it 
was at 102°: perhaps it was on that account that scarce- 
ly any women came. Another reason I assign is, that 
I rebuked one of them last Sunday, yet very gently, 
for talking and laughing in the church before I came ; 
so yesterday they showed their displeasure by not 
coming at all. I spoke to them on the parable of the 
great supper. The old woman, who is always so ex- 
emplary in her attention, shed many tears. I have 
sometimes endeavored to speak to her, but she de- 
clines conversation. I feel interested about her, there 
is so much sorrow and meekness depicted in her 
countenance ; but she always crosses herself after the 
service is over. My Europeans this week have not 



HENRY MARTYN. 261 

attended very well ; fifteen only, instead of twenty- 
five : some of them, indeed, are in the hospital ; and 
the hospital is a town of itself; — how shall I ever be 
faithful to them all ? 

" To the Rev. D. Corrie:' 

'May 31, 1808. 

" Yours of the 24th instant arrived to-day, and re- 
lieved me from much anxiety respecting your own 
health. Still you do not say whether the Hindoos- 
tanee sheets have arrived. I do not wonder at your in- 
quiring about the Persian. To-day we finish compar- 
ing St. Matthew with the Greek, if it may be called a 
comparison; for, partly owing to the errors of the 
scribe, rendering whole verses unintelligible ; and 
partly on account of Sabat's anxiety to preserve the 
rhythm, which often requires the change of a whole 
sentence for a single word — it is a new translation. 
We have labored hard at it to-day ; from six in the 
morning till four in the afternoon. 

" To the Rev. D. Brown" 

" June 6, 1808. 
" To-day we have completed the Persian of St. 
Matthew, and to-morrow it is to be sent off to be print- 
ed. Sabat desired me to kneel down to bless God for 
the happy event, and we joined in praise of ' the Fa- 
ther of Lights.' It is a superb performance in every 
respect Sabat is prodigiously proud of it. I wish 
some mistakes may not be found in it, to put him to 
shame. Among the events of the last week is the 
earthquake. We were just reading the passage of the 
24th of Matthew, on 'earthquakes in divers places, 
when I felt my chair shake under me; then some 



262 MEMOIR OF 

pieces of the plaster fell 5 on which I sprang up and 
ran out : the doors had still a tremulous motion. The 
edition of the Gospel must be announced as { printed at 
the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society. 

4 To the Rev. D. Corrie." 

" Jwie 7, 1808. 

" This day we have sent the Persian of St. Matthew 
Sabat is not a little proud of it. Your design of an- 
nouncing the translation as printed at the expense of 
the British and Foreign Bible Society, I highly ap- 
prove ; I wish to see honor put upon so godlike an 
institution. Mirza returned yesterday, and again there 
are symptoms of disquiet in Sabat. Pray for us. 
u To the Rev. D.Brown." 

" Bankipore, JuTie 23, 1808. 

" I groan at the wickedness and infidelity of men, 
and seem to stretch my neck every way to espy a 
righteous man. All at Dinapore treat the Gospel with 
contempt ; here there is nothing but infidelity. I am 
but just arrived, and am grieved to find in my old 

friend less proofs of real acquaintance with the 

Gospel than I used to hope. On my way here I called 

on Col. , and advised him to marry or separate; 

the alternative I am ever insisting on. As soon as I 

arrived, Mr. informed me that the reason why no 

one came to hear me, was, £ that I preached faith with- 
out works, and that little sins are as bad as great ones, 1 
and that thus I tempted them to become great sinners. 
A young civilian, who some time ago came to me de- 
siring satisfaction on the evidences of Christianity, and 
to whom I spoke very freely, and with some regard, 
as I could not doubt his sincerity, now holds me up to 



HENRY MARTYN. 263 

ridicule. Thus, through evil report, we go on. Oh, 
my brother ! how happy I feel, that all have not for- 
saken Christ ; that I am not left alone even in India. 
1 Cast thy burden on the Lord, and he shall sustain 
thee,' is the text I carry about with me, and I can re- 
commend it to any body as an infallible preservative 
from the fever of anxiety. 
" To the Rev. D. Corrie." 

" June 26, 1808. 
" The day after I wrote to you from Bankipore, 1 
called on the Nawaub, Babir Ali Khan, celebrated for 
his sense and liberality. I staid two hours with him, 
conversing in Persian, but badly. He began the theo- 
logical discussion by requesting me to explain necessi- 
ty and free-will ; I instantly pleaded ignorance. He 
gave his own opinion ; on which I asked him for his 
proofs of the religion of Mohammed. His first argu- 
ment was the eloquence of the Koran, but he at last 
acknowledged that this was insufficient. I then brought 
forward a passage or two in the Koran, containing sen- 
timents manifestly false and foolish : he flourished a 
good deal, but concluded by saying that I must wait 
till I could speak Persian better, and had read their 
logic. His whole manner, look, authority, and copious- 
ness, reminded me constantly of Dr. — — . This was 
the first visit, and I returned highly delighted with his 
sense, candor, and politeness. Two days after I went 
to breakfast with him, and conversed with him in Hin- 
doostanee. He inquired what were the principles of 
the Christian religion. I began with the atonement, the 
divinity of Christ, the corruption of human nature, the 



264 MEMOIR OF 

necessity of regeneration, and a holy life. He seems 
to wish to acquire information, but discovers no spirit- 
ual desire after the truth. So much for this Mussul- 
man lord : now for Antichrist in another shape — the 
Popish Padre, Julius Caesar. I asked him whether the 
doctrine I had heard from the Franciscans in America 
was his — Extra Ecclesiam Romanam salus non esse 
potest? (p. 135.) He said that it was a question on 
which disputations were constantly held at Rome. By 
some means we got upon the additions made to the 
Commandments by the Church of Rome ; he said that 
Christianity without councils, was a city without walls ; 
and that Luther, Calvin, &c. had made additions; all 
which I denied, and showed him the last verses in the 
Revelation. Upon the whole, our conversation seemed 
without benefit. 

" To ike Rev. Z>. Corrie." 

" July 2, 1808. 

" My work is very delightful in itself, but it is doubly 
so, by securing me so much of your correspondence. 
My eyes seized your beloved hand- writing with more 
eagerness than even if the letter had been from Europe 
I rejoice with you, and praise God for one Gospel in 
Persian. With elegance enough to attract the careless 
and please the fastidious, it contains enough of Eternal 
Life to save the reader's soul ; therefore, if we do no 
more, we are happy that something is done. We are 
safe with the Hindoostanee ; it wants but little correc- 
tion, and in case of my death, could be easily prepared 
by any one. I am anxious to hear of the new plans 
you are about to propose to me : let them not be in 
the way of recreation; my only exertion, and that, 



HENRY MARTYN. 265 

through indolence, is small, is to keep my heart right- 
ly disposed to minister to my congregation at night. I 
shrink from the idea of Sanscrit : the two or three 
months I spent in striving to penetrate its unwieldy 
grammar, were more painful to me than any since the 
sorrowful days when I first began to learn Greek." 

" To the Rsv. D. Brown. 1 ' 

" July 4, 1808. 

"I have received no letter from you this week. 
When Sunday came, and no letter arrived from you, 
I began to entertain the romantic notion that perhaps 
my brother himself would come and preach for me at 
night. I am now on my way to Patna by water. The 
Italian Padre came to Dinapore again on Saturday, 
but did not call upon me : the men sent him a letter, 
to which he replied in French, that he lamented he 
could not speak their language, but should remember 
them in his prayers, and spoke of them as brethren in 
Christ. When he came into the barracks, the Catho- 
lics crowded around him by hundreds, and in a tone 
of triumph pointed out his dress — that of a Franciscan 
friar — to the Protestants, contrasting it with that of a 
Clergyman of the Church of England, booted and 
spurred, and ready for a hunt. The Catholics in this 
regiment amount to a full thousand — the Protestants 
are scarcely discernible. Who would think that we 
should have to combat Antichrist again at this day? 
I feel my spirit roused to preach against Popery with 
all the zeal of Luther. How small and unimportant 
are the hair-splitting disputes of the blessed people at 
home, compared with the formidable agents of the de- 
vil with whom we have to combat here ! There are 



266 MEMOIR OF 

four casts of people in India : the first, heathen ; the 
second, Mohammedans ; the third, Papists ; the fourth, 
infidels. Now I trust that you and I are sent to fight 
this four-faced devil, and by the help of the Lord Je- 
sus, whom we serve, we will. I was rather apprehen- 
sive yesterday that my female hearers would hav < 
forsaken me; but they came as usual; and the words 
( search the Scriptures,' occurring in the chapter of the 
day, I took occasion to point out to them the wicked- 
ness of the church of Rome, in forbidding the use ol 
the Scriptures. 

" To the Rev. D. Corrie." 

" July 11, 1808. 

"A loquacious Brahmin having interrupted us in 
our work, I leave him to Sabat, and turn my thoughts 
with more pleasure Chunar-ward. My last letter 
left me at Patna. The Catholic Padre, Julius Caesar, 
had gone to Dinapore that very day, to say mass; but 
at Babir Ali's I met with a very agreeable Armenian 
Padre, named Martin, who kept my tongue employed 
nearly the whole of the day. I tried him once or twice 
in spiritual things, but on these he had nothing to say. 
His dress was a little black cassock, exactly such as 
we wear, or ought to wear : the top of his head was 
shaved like the Franciscans. I am almost ashamed ol 
my secular appearance before these very venerable and 
appropriate figures. The Catholics in the regiment 
are a thousand strong, and are disposed to be mali- 
cious : they respect me, however, and cannot help 
thinking that I have been taught by Roman Catholics, 
or have been in some way connected with them : at 
the hospital, the greater number kept themselves aloof. 



HENRY MARTYN. 267 

My society, this week, has occasioned me great trou- 
ble ; one man was the occasion of it : still his profes- 
sions, and earnestness not to be excluded, make it dif- 
ficult to know how to deal with him. My female 
hearers do not give me half such encouragement 
as yours ; probably because I do not take such pains 
with them ; yet there is no trouble I would spare, if I 
knew how to reach their minds. They were only 
fourteen yesterday. I spoke to them on the text, 
' Lord, to whom shall we go ? thou hast the words of 
eternal life. 3 To whom shall we go? To the Padre— 
to the Virgin Mary — to the Saints — to the world — to 
works — to repentance ? No : to Christ. 

" To the Rev. D. Corrie" 

" July 18, 1808. 

" I mentioned to you that I had spoken very plainly 
to the women last Sunday, on the delusions of the 
Papists ; yesterday only seven came. I ascribed it to 
what I had said ; but to-day Sabat tells me thaf they 
pour contempt upon it all. Sabat, instead of comforting 
and encouraging me in my disappointments and trials, 
aggravates my pain by contemptuous expressions of 
the perfect inutility of continuing to teach them. He 
may spare his sarcastic remarks, as I suppose that, 
after another Sunday, none at all will come. I find no 
relief but in prayer : to God I can tell all my griefs 
and find comfort. Last Tuesday the Padre, Julius 
Caesar, came and staid with me four hours. We ar- 
gued with great vehemence : when I found that he 
had nothing to say in defence of the adoration of the 
Virgin Mary and the saints, I solemnly charged him 
and his church with the sin of idolatry ; he started. 



268 MEMOIR OF 






and said that if I had uttered such a sentiment in Italy 
I should have been burned. He certainly seems sin- 
cere ; and at one time he lifted up his eyes and prayed 
that I might not convert him, and that God would 
never suffer the Protestant religion to enter Italy. His 
main argument against me was, the disorder and im- 
piety prevalent among the Protestants whom he had 
an opportunity of observing in Geneva and Leghorn. 
This disputation has brought us to be quite familiar 
in our acquaintance: he looked over all my books, 
and found a French one, called ' The Crimes of the 
Popes ;' which he desired to have ; but recollected 
afterwards that his coadjutor might see it. I feel a 
regard for him ; he is a serious and unassuming young 
man. 

" To the Rev. D. Corrie." 

" August 1, 1808. 

" One day this week, on getting up in the morning, 
I was attacked with a very serious illness. I thought 
I was leaving this world of sorrow ; and, praised be 
the God of grace, I felt no fear. The rest of the day 
I was filled with sweet peace of mind, and had near 
access to God in prayer. What a debt of love and 
praise do we owe ! Yesterday I attempted to examine 
the women who attended (in number about thirty) in 
Christian knowledge : they were very shy, and said 
that they could say no prayers but in Portuguese. It 
appears that they were highly incensed, and went 
away, saying to Joseph, ' We know a great deal more 
than your Padre himself.' The services much weak- 
ened me, after my late attack. 

u To the Rev. D. Corrie." 



HENRY MARTYN. 269 

" August 8, 1808. 

" I called on the Commander-in-chief here on Sa- 
turday morning, and was received very graciously. I 
told him that it was a duty we owed to God as a na- 
tion, to erect churches ; and asked whether Lord Minto 
was disposed to go on with it ; to which he replied in 
the affirmative. I enlarged on the shame I felt in my 
disputes with the Popish Padres, as often as they threw 
out reflections on the utter disregard of the Protestants 
to religion. Julius, the Padre, has been here twice this 
week, but staid only a very short time. He began to 
assert, with very great vehemence, the necessity of an 
infallible judge, in order to settle all disputes on reli- 
gion ; and mentioned how much he had been agitated 
by his last dispute with me ; he could do nothing but 
walk about that night ; yet looked up to God and be- 
came tranquil. The men are fast dying in the hospital, 
yet they would rather be sent to Patna for some holy 
oil, than hear the word of eternal life. Two or three 
of my evening hearers are in the hospital ; one is pre- 
pared to die : blessed sight ! The Persian of St. Mark 
is to be sent to-morrow, and five chapters of Luke, cor- 
rected. There is no news from down the stream ; but 
always glad tidings for us from the world above. 

" To the Rev. D. Carrie: 1 

" August 15, 1808. 

" Glad am I that we are likely to meet so soon ; may 
it be l in the fullness of the blessing of the Gospel of 
peace. 5 Last week Mohammed Babir, the Mohammedan 
lord, and Padre Martino, spent three days here. Little, 
I am sorry to say, has been done. Sabat did not ap- 
pear to advantage ; instead of speaking about the Gos- 



270 MEMOIR OP 

pel to Babir, he was reciting poetry, particularly his 
own ; and seemed more anxious to gain admirers than 
converts. We did, however, at last converse about re- 
ligion ; but Mohammed confessed himself an infidel, 
and required proof for the truth of any religion. Sa 
bat was not prepared for this, so I attempted to speak 
to Babir upon the nature of probable evidence ; but he 
did not understand me ; so this came to nothing 
One day we sat down to dinner before Sabat came, 
and, to our great astonishment, he rebuked us, with 
great wrath and pride. With all Babir's gentleness, he 
rebuked him in his turn, and told him that the Per- 
sians and English knew how to behave, but the Arabs 
did not. Babir was so lavish in his compliments to us 
all, that it was difficult to get at his real sentiments; 
but he praised Sabat's Persian translation to the stars; 
which I was glad to hear. As for the poor Padre, with 
an exterior so imposing that you would think St. Pe- 
ter himself was present, he knows nothing at all. 1 
tried him on spiritual things again and again : but he 
could say nothing. Alas ! how fallen from what their 
fathers were ! When shall the churches of Asia recover 
their ancient glory? You will see the Nabob and Pa- 
dre soon, I hope. Last Tuesday we sent off the Per- 
sian of St. Mark. 
" To the Rev, D. Corrie." 

" September 9, 1808. 

" Corrie is here, and likely to remain, to my joy. 

You will have some happy hours together, I doubt 

not : with all your cares and trials, you claim all the 

consolation we can give ; and you shall have more 



HENRY MARTYN. 271 

Mian that, if we can obtain any thing for you by our 
prayers. Corrie will bring you but a poor account of 
my congregation : I am much neglected on all sides, 
and without the work of translation, I should fear that 
my presence in India were useless. 

'< TotJieRev. D. Brown." 

" October, 1808. 

" I deserve your reproof for not having written to 
you oftener ; and I am pained at the anxiety I have 
thoughtlessly occasioned you. I console myself, how- 
ever, by reflecting that a letter must have reached you 
a few weeks after you sent your last. I am sorry that 
I have not good accounts to give of my health; yet 
no danger is to be apprehended. My services on the 
Lord's day always leave me a pain in the chest, and 
such a great degree of general relaxation, that I sel- 
dom recover it till Tuesday. A few days ago I was at- 
tacked with a fever, which, by the mercy of God, 
lasted but two days. 1 am now well, but must be more 
careful for the future. In this debilitating climate the 
mortal tabernacle is frail indeed : my mind seems as 
vigorous as ever, but my delicate frame soon calls for 
relaxation , and I must give it, though unwillingly ; 
for such glorious fields for exertion open all around, 
that I could with pleasure be employed from morning 
till night. It seems a providential circumstance, that 
the work at present assigned me is that of translation ; 
for had I gone through the villages preaching, as my 
intentions led me to do, I fear that by this time I 
should have been in a deep decline. In my last I gave 
you a general idea of my employments. The society 
still meet every night at my quarters, and though we 



272 MEMOIR OF 

have lost many by death, others are laised up in theii 
room ; one officer, a lieutenant, is also given to me ; 
and he is not only a brother beloved, but a constant 
companion and nurse ; so you must feel no appre- 
hension that I should be left alone in sickness ; nei- 
ther on any other account should you be uneasy. 
You know that we must meet no more in this life : 
therefore since we are, as I trust, both children of God, 
by faith in Jesus Christ, it becomes a matter of less 
consequence when we leave this earth. Of the spread 
of the Gospel in India I can say little, because I hear 
nothing. Adieu, my dearest sister : let us live in con- 
stant prayer for ourselves, and for the church." 
To his Sister. 

" October 19, 1808. 

" I have just come out of my chapel, where, with 
my little flock, I have once more resumed my duties. 
The infrequency of my appearance among them of 
late has thinned them considerably ; and this effect, 
which I foresaw, is one of the most painful and lamen- 
table consequences of my withdrawing from them ; but 
it is unavoidable, if I wish to prolong my life. My dan- 
ger is from the lungs, though none of you seem to ap- 
prehend it. One complete service at church does more 
to consume my strength and spirits than six days of 
the hardest study, or bodily labor. Pray for me, my 
dear brother, that I may neither be rash nor indolent. 

« Totiie Rev. D. Carrie:' 

" October 24, 1808. 
" You mention a letter inclosed, but none came. The 
intelligence, however, intended to be conveyed by it, 



HENRY MARTYN. 273 

met my delighted eyes. Thomason* is coming ! This 
is good. Praise be to the Lord of the harvest, for send- 
ing out laborers ! Behold how the prayers of the so- 
ciety at Calcutta have been heard. I hope they will 
continue their supplication ; for we want more yet, and 
it may please God yet further to bless us. You cannot 
leave Calcutta by the middle of November, and must 
therefore apply for one month's extension of leave. 
But you are unwilling to leave your flock ; and I do 
not wonder, as I have seen my sheep grievously dis- 
persed during my absence. Uncertain when I may 
come amongst them, they seldom come at all, except 
the ten or twelve who meet one another. My morn- 
ing congregation increases as the cold weather ad- 
vances, and yesterday there seemed to be a conside- 
rable impression. I spoke in a low tone of voice, and 
therefore did not feel much fatigue ; after the Hindoos- 
tanee service I was very weak ; but at night tolerably 
strong again. On the whole, my expectations of life 
return. May the days thus prolonged be entirely his 
who continues them ! and may my work not only 
move on delightfully, but with a more devout and se- 
rious spirit ! You are too many happy brethren toge- 
ther for me to mention all : suffice it to say that my 
heart is with you, and daily prays for blessings upon 
you all. 
" To the Rets. D. Carrie." 

The early part of the year 1809 produced no varia- 
tion in the life of Mr. Martyn, until the month of April ; 

* Of whom a memoir has since been written, by the author 
of this work* 

Martyo. JQ 



274 MEMOIR OF 

when he was removed from his station at Dinapore, to 
Cawnpore. The following extracts are selected from 
the continuation of his correspondence with Mr. Cor- 
rie, in the interval which passed between the end of 
the year 1808, and the termination of his ministry at 
Dinapore. 

" January 10, 1809. 
kt Your letter from Buxar found me in much the same 
spiritual state as you describe yourself to be in; though 
your description, no doubt, belongs more properly to 
me. I no longer hesitate to ascribe my stupor and for- 
mality to its right cause, unwatchfulness in worldly 
company. I thought that any temptation arising from 
the society of the people of the world, at least of such 
as we have had, was not worthy of notice ; but I find 
myself mistaken. The frequent occasions of being 
among them of late, have proved a snare to my cor- 
rupt heart. Instead of returning with a more elastic 
spring to severe duties, as I expected, my heart wants 
more idleness, more dissipation. David Brainerd in 
the wilderness, what a contrast to Henry Martyn ! 
But God be thanked that a start now and then inter- 
rupts the slumber. I hope to be up and about my Mas. 
ter's business ; to cast off the works of darkness, and 
to be spiritually minded, which alone is life and peace. 
But what a dangerous country it is that we are in ; hot 
weather or cold, all is softness and luxury ; all a con- 
spiracy to lull us to sleep in the lap of pleasure. While 
we pass over this enchanted ground, call, brother, ever 
and anon, and ask, 'Is all well?' We are shepherds 
keeping watch over our flocks by night : if we fail 
asleep, what is to become of them ?" 



HENRY MARTYN. 275 

" January 30, 1809. 
" I have been seized with a sudden desire for read- 
ing Hebrew, chiefly from a wish of seeing language 
in its simplest and purest state. It is my belief that 
language is from God; and that therefore, as in his 
other works, so in this, the principles must be extreme- 
ly simple. My present labor is to find the reason for 
there being but two tenses in Hebrew. I have read, or 
rather devoured, the first four chapters of the Hebrew 
Bible, in order to account for the apparently strange 
use of these two tenses, and am making hypotheses 
every moment ; when I walk, and when I wake in the 
night. One thing I have found, which is, that there 
are but two tenses in English and in Persian. I will 
go — in this sentence the principal verb is I will, which 
is the present tense. I would have gone — the principal 
verb is T would or I willed. Should, also is a preterite, 
namely, shotted, from to shall. Another thing I observe 
is, that, both in Persian and in English, the preterite is 
formed in the same way, viz. by the addition of 
ed ; porsum porsedum — ask, asked. I should not won- 
der if, in the Saxon, or some other ancient northern 
language, from which the English comes, it is askedum. 
Thus you have a letter of philology. If 1 make any 
other great discoveries, and have nothing better to 
write about, I shall take the liberty of communicating 
them. Scire iuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat al- 
ter :* but this, I trust, is not my maxim. i Whatsoever 
ye do, do all to the glory of God? is much better." 

* Knowledge to yourself is in vain, unless others know that 
you have it. 



276 MEMOIR OF 

"February 13, 1809. 
"Last Friday we had the happiness and honor of 
finishing the four Gospels in Persian. The same even- 
ing I made some discovery respecting the Hebrew 
verb ; but was unfortunately so much delighted that I 
could not gleep; in consequence of which I have had 
a head-ache ever since. Thus even intellectual joys 
are followed by sorrow ; not so spiritual ones. I pray 
continually that order may be preserved in my heart ; 
that I may esteem and delight most in that work 
which is really most estimable and delightful — the 
work of Christ and his apostles. When this is in any 
measure the case, it is surprising how clear and order- 
ly the thoughts are on other subjects. I am still a good 
deal in the dark respecting the objects of my pursuit ; 
but have so far an insight, that I read Hebrew and 
Arabic with increasing pleasure and satisfaction." 

" February 29, 1809. 
"Your attack proves the necessity of diminishing 
your Sabbath services. I scarcely know how this 
week has passed, nor can I call to mind the circum- 
stances of one single day ; so absorbed have I been in 
my new pursuit. I remember, however, that during 
one night I did not sleep a wink. Knowing what would 
be the consequence the next day, I struggled hard, and 
turned every way, that my mind might be diverted 
from what was before it ; but all in vain. One disco- 
very succeeded another, in Hebrew, Arabic, and Greek, 
so rapidly, that I was sometimes almost in ecstacy ; 
but, after all, I have moved but a step : you may scold 
me, if you please, but I am helpless. I do not turn to 



HENRY MARTYN. 277 

this study of myself, but it turns to me, and draws roe 
away almost irresistibly. Still I perceive it to be a 
mark of a fallen nature, to be so carried away by a 
pleasure merely intellectual ; and, therefore, while I 
pray for the gifts of His Spirit, I feel the necessity oi 
being still more earnest for His grace. ' Whether there 
be tongues, they shall cease ; whether there be know- 
ledge it shall vanish away;' but 'charity never fail- 
' eth.' Yesterday my mind was mercifully kept free 
the whole day : and I ministered without distraction, 
and moreover without fatigue. I do not know when 
I have found myself so strong. The state of the air 
affects me more than any thing else. On Saturday I 
completed my twenty-eighth year. Shall I live to see 
another birth-day? It will be better to suppose not. I 
have not read Faber yet; but it seems evident to me 
that the 11th of Daniel, almost the whole of it, refers 
to future time. But as the time of accomplishing the 
Scriptures draws on, knowledge shall increase. In 
solemn expectation we must wait, to see how our God 
will come. How interesting are his doings ! We feel 
already some of that rapture wherewith they sing 
above, ' Great and wonderful are thy works, Lord God 
almighty i just and true are thy ways, thou King of 
saints !' " 

"March 3, 1809. 
" I did not write to you last week, because I was 
employed night and day, on Monday and Tuesday, 
with Sabat, in correcting some sheets for the press. 1 
begin my letter now, immediately on receiving yours 
of last week. The account of your complaint, as you 
may suppose, grieves me exceedingly • not because I 



278 MEMOIR OF 

think that I shall outlive you, but because your useful 
labors must be reduced to one quarter of their present 
amount ; and that you may perhaps be obliged to take 
a voyage to Europe, which involves loss of time and 
money. But, O brother beloved ! what is life or death ? 
Nothing, to the believer in Jesus. ' He that believeth, 
though he were dead, yet shall he live ; and he that 
liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die. 5 The first 
and most natural effect of sickness, as I have often 
found, is to cloud and terrify the mind. The attention 
of the soul is arrested by the idea of soon appearing in 
a new world ; and a sense of guilt is felt before faith 
is exercised in a Redeemer : and for a time this will 
predominate ; for the same faith that would overcome 
fear in health, must be considerably strengthened, to 
have the same ascendency in sickness. I trust you 
will long live to do the work of your Lord Jesus. My 
discoveries are all at an end. I am just where I was ; 
in perfect darkness, and tired of the pursuit. It is, how- 
ever, likely that I shall be constantly speculating on 
the subject. My thirst after knowledge is very strong; 
but I pray continually that the Spirit of God may hold 
the reins ; that I may mind the work of God above all 
things ; and consider all things else as merely occa- 
sional." 

" March 13, 1809. 

" How delightful is it to me, at this moment, 10 
commune with a dear brother, who c is not of the 
world, as the Lord was not of the world.' I am just 

come from the mess of the . This morning the 

regiment was reviewed, and I, among the staff,* was 

* Mr. Martyn was Military Chaplain. 



HENRY MARTYN. 279 

invited to a public dejeune and dinner. As I had no 
pretence for not going, I went. Yesterday our new 
place of worship was opened. It is a room eighty-one 
feet long, with a very large verandah. It will be a 
noble church ; but I fear will diminish somewhat of 
my strength. My text was, ' In all places where I 
record my name, I will come unto thee and bless thee.' 
may the promise be fulfilled to us I" 

At Cawnpore the hand of friendship and hospitality 
was stretched out to welcome Mr. Martyn ; and to af- 
ford him those attentions which, after a wearisome 
and perilous journey, were not only most gratifying 
to his feelings, but almost indispensable to the pre- 
servation of his life. From the pen of the lady* of that 
friend who then received him, a pen which has been 
often and happily employed in the sacred cause for 
which Mr. Martyn lived and labored, we have the fol- 
lowing account of his arrival at the new station to 
which he was appointed. 

" The month of April, in the upper provinces of 
Hindoostan, is one of the most dreadful months, for 
traveling, throughout the year; indeed, no European, 
at that time, can remove from place to place, but at 
the hazard of his life. But Mr. Martyn had that anxiety 
to be in the work which his heavenly Father had giv- 
en him to do, that, notwithstanding the violent heat, 
he traveled from Chunar to Cawnpore, the space of 
about four hundred miles. At that time, as I well re- 
member, the air was as hot and dry as that which I 

* Mrs. Sherwood. 



280 MEMOIR OF 

have sometimes felt near the mouth of a large oven; 
no friendly cloud or verdant carpet of grass to relieve 
the eye from the strong glare of the rays of the sun, 
pouring on the sandy plains of the Ganges. Thus Mr. 
Martyn traveled, journeying night and day, and arrived 
at Cawnpore in such a state, that he fainted away as 
soon as he entered the house. When we charged him 
with the rashness of hazarding his life in this manner, 
he always pleaded his anxiety to get to the great work. 
He remained with us ten days, suffering considerably, 
at times, from fever and pain in the chest." 

Mr. Martyn's own account of this dreadful and most 
distressing journey is thus briefly detailed to Mr. Corrie 

" Cawnjpore, May 1, 1809. 
" The entrance to this place is through plains of 
immeasurable extent, covered with burning sand. The 
place itself I have not yet been able to see, nor shall, I 
suppose, till the rains : at present it is involved in a 
thick cloud of dust. So much for exordium. Let me take 
up my narrative from Mirzupore, from whence I wrote 
you a note. I reached Tarra about noon. Next day, 
at noon, reached Allahabad, and was hospitably re- 
ceived by Mr. G ; at night dined with him at the 

Judge's, and met twenty-six people. From Allahabad 
to Cawnpore how shall I describe what I suffered ! 
Two days and two nights was I traveling without in- 
termission. Expecting to arrive early on Saturday 
morning, I took no provision for that day. Thus I lay- 
in my palanquin, faint, with ahead-ache, neither awake 
nor asleep, between dead and alive, the wind blowing 
flames. The bearers were so unable to bear up, that 



HENRY MARTYN. 281 

wf were six hours coming the last six kos (twelve 
miles.) However, with all these frightful circum- 
stances, I was brought, in mercy, through. It was too 
late on Saturday to think of giving notice of my arri- 
val, that we might have service ; indeed I was myself 
too weak. Even now the motion of the palanquin is 
not out of my brain, nor the heat out of my blood." 

Mr. Martyn's removal from Dinapore to Cawnpore 
was to him, in many respects, a very unpleasant ar- 
rangement. He was several hundred miles farther dis- 
tant from Calcutta, and was far more widely separa- 
ted than before from his friend Mr. Corrie : he had 
new acquaintances to form at his new abode ; and, 
after having with much difficulty procured the erection 
of a church at Dinapore, he was transported to a spot 
where none of the conveniences, much less the decen- 
cies and solemnities of public worship were visible. 
We find him, soon after he arrived there, preaching to 
a thousand soldiers drawn up in a hollow square, when 
the heat was so great, although the sun had not risen, 
that many actually dropped down, unable to support 
it. What must such services as these have been to a 
minister too faithful and zealous to seek refuge in in- 
dolent formality, and already weakened in health by 
former ministrations ! He complained, if indeed he 
might ever be said to complain, of an attack of fever 
soon after the commencement of these services ; and 
there can be little doubt that they contributed very 
materially to undermine his constitution. No time, 
indeed, was lost by him, on this occasion, as before, in 
remonstrating upon this subject ; and his remon- 



282 MEMOIR OF 

strances procured a promise that a church should be 
built. This expectation, however, was not fulfilled until 
his health was too much shaken to profit by its accom- 
plishment. 

At Cawnpore Mr. Martyn's ministerial duties varied 
little from those which had occupied him at Dinapore. 
Prayers and a sermon with the regiment, at the dawn 
of the morning ; the same service at the house of the 
general of the station, at eleven o'clock ; attendance at 
the hospital ; and in the evening, that part of his work 
which was the most grateful and refreshing to his 
spirit, though performed under the pressure of much 
bodily fatigue — an exposition to the more devout part 
of his flock, with prayer and thanksgiving— made up 
the ordinary portion of his labors. 

The love of philology — in which science he fondly 
hoped to effect discoveries conducive to the elucida- 
tion of difficulties in the Scriptures — followed him 
from Dinapore to his new residence, and so haunted 
his mind, that, whether at home or abroad, whether 
by day or by night, he could not divest himself of it. 
For many successive days did he intensely pursue this 
study, and for many sleepless nights did this study 
pursue him. At length he thought that he had ascer- 
tained the meaning of almost all the Hebrew letters: 
by degrees, however, he became less ardent in these 
inquiries, either from questioning the truth of those 
axioms which he had laid down, or from finding the r 
inutility after he had established them. 

These abstruse speculations, together with duties of 
a more important character, one of the chief of which 
was the superintendence of the Arabic translation of 



HENRY MARTYN. 283 

the New Testament, now begun and carried on con- 
jointly with a new Persian version, were soon inter- 
rupted, and for a time suspended, by a summons he 
received to Lucknow, for the purpose of celebrating a 
marriage, and by a similar call to Pretabjush, Con- 
cerning the latter he thus writes to Mr. Simeon, la- 
menting the inconvenience to which he was exposed 
by such distant demands upon his services. " Just af- 
ter the last ship from Europe arrived, and I was hour- 
ly expecting my letters, I was summoned to a distant 
station to marry a couple, and did not return till three 
weeks after. It was a great disappointment to be thus 
suddenly sent to roam amongst jungles and jackalls, 
when I was feasting my fancy with delightful letters 
from my friends at home ; though Europe is no longer 
my home. However, my mind was soon reconciled to 
it, and I was often able to recite, with some sense of 
their sweetness, Mr. Newton's beautiful lines: 

* In desert tracts, with Thee, my God, 
How happy could I be !' 

"The place to which I was called is Pretabjush, in 
the territory of Oude, which is still under the govern- 
ment of the Nabob. Oppression and insecurity of pro- 
perty seem to have stripped the country of its inhabi- 
tants. From Manicpore, where I left the river, to Pre- 
tabjush, a distance of fifty miles, I saw but two or three 
miserable villages, and no agriculture. The road was 
nothing more than a winding footpath through aeon- 
tinued wood ; and that, in consequence of the rains, 
was often lost. Indeed, all the lowlands were under 
water, which, added to the circumstance of traveling 



284 MEMOIR CF 

by night, made the journey by no means a pleasant 
one. Being detained one Lord's day at the place, I as- 
sembled all the officers and company at the command- 
ing officer's bungalow, and preached the Gospel to 
them. There were five-and- thirty officers, besides la- 
dies, and other Europeans. You will have an idea of 
the Nabob'scountry, when you are informed that, last 
September, a young officer, going from his station to 
Lucknow, was stopped by robbers, and literally cut to 
pieces in his palanquin. Since that time, the Nabob 
has requested that every English gentleman wishing to 
visit his capital, may give notice of his intention to 
the Resident, in order that a guard may be sent. Ac- 
cordingly, a few months ago, when I had occasion to 
go to Lucknow, I had a guard of four troopers, armed 
with matchlocks and spears. I thought of Nehemiah, 
but was far too inferior to him in courage and faith 
not to contemplate the fierce countenances of my sa- 
tellites with great satisfaction." 

Not long after Mr. Martyn's return from this expedi- 
tion, letters from Europe reached Cawnpore, bringing 
intelligence of a similar nature with that which had 
overwhelmed him in the preceding year. They con- 
tained intimations of the dangerous illness of that sis- 
ter who had been so instrumental to his conversion to 
the Lord ; and they were but too quickly followed by 

an account of her death. " O my dearest S ," he 

began to write, with a faint hope, at first, of the possi- 
bility of her receiving his letter, " that disease which 
preyed upon our mother and dear sister, and has often 
shown itself in me, has, I fear, attacked you. Although 



HENRY MARTYN. 285 

I parted from you in the expectation of never seeing 
you in this life ; and though I know that you are, and 
have long been, prepared to go, yet to lose my last 
near relation, my only sister in nature and grace, is a 
dreadful stroke." " Dearest brother," he continued to 
her husband, from whom he had, in the meantime, 
received a more alarming account, " I can write no 
more to my sister. Even now something tells me that 
I have been addressing one in the world of spirits. But 
yet it is possible that I may be mistaken. No! I dare 
not hope. Your loss is greater than mine, and there- 
fore it would become me to offer consolation; but I 
cannot. I must wait till your next ; and in the mean- 
time I will continue to pray for you, that the God of 
all consolation may comfort you, and make us both, 
from this time, live more as pilgrims and strangers 
upon the earth. In the first three years after leav- 
ing my native land, I have lost the three persons 
whom I most loved in it. What is there now that I 
should wish to live for % O what a barren desert, what 
a howling wilderness does this world appear ! But for 
the service of God in his church, and the preparation 
of my own soul, I do not know that I would wish to 
live another day." 

With a grateful tenderness, also, in the midst of this 
affliction, he thus addressed Mr. Simeon : — " My ever 
dear friend and brother, I address you by your true 
title, for you are a friend and brother, and more than a 
brother to me. Your letter, though it contains much 
afflictive intelligence, contains also much that demands 
my gratitude. In the midst of judgment he remembers 
mercy. He has been pleased to take away my last re- 



286 MEMOIR OF 

maining sister (for I have no hopes of my poor S 's 

recovery ;) he has reduced the rest of my family, but 
he has raised up a friend for me and mine. Tears oi 
gratitude mingle with those of sorrow, whilst I think 
of the mercy of God, and the goodness of you, his in- 
strument." 

The close of the year 1809 was distinguished by the 
commencement of Mr. Martyn's first public ministra- 
tion among the heathen. A crowd of mendicants, 
whom, to prevent perpetual interruptions, he had ap- 
pointed to meet on a stated day, for the distribution of 
alms, frequently assembled before his house in im- 
mense numbers, presenting an affecting spectacle oi 
extreme wretchedness. To this congregation he de- 
termined to preach the word of the Savior of all men, 
who is no respecter of persons. Of his first attempt at 
this new species of ministration he thus speaks : " I 
told them, after requesting their attention, that I gave 
with pleasure the alms I could afford ; but wished to 
give them something better, namely, eternal riches, or 
the knowledge of God, which was to be had from 
God's word; and then producing a Hindoostanee trans- 
lation of Genesis, read the first verse, and explained it 
word by word. In the beginning, when there was no- 
thing, no heaven, no earth, but only God, he created 
without help, for his own pleasure. But who is God ? 
One so great, so good, so wise, so mighty, that none 
can know him as he ought to know : but yet we must 
know that he knows us. When we rise up, or sit down, 
or go out, he is always with us. He created heaven 
and earth ; therefore every thing in heaven, sun, moon. 



HENKY MAKTYN. 287 

and stars. Therefore, how should the sun be God, or 
the moon be God? He created every thing on earth, 
therefore Ganges also; therefore, how should Ganges 
be God ? Neither are they like God. If a shoemaker 
make a pair of shoes, are the shoes like him 1 If a man 
make an image, the image is not like man his maker. 
Infer secondly : if God made the heaven and earth for 
you, and made the meat also for you, will he not also 
feed you ? Know also, that he that made heaven and 
earth, can destroy them, and will do it ; therefore fear 
God, who is so great; and love God, who is so good." 
Such was the substance of his first discourse, the whole 
of which was preached sentence by sentence ; for, at 
the end of each clause, there followed applause and ex- 
planatory remarks from the wiser among them. " I 
bless my God," said Mr. Martyn, " for helping me 
beyond my expectations. Yet still my corrupt heart 
looks forward to the next attempt with some dread," 
The following Sunday he preached again to the beg- 
gars, in number about five hundred, on the work of 
the first and second day, when all he said was receiv- 
ed with great applause. And on the last day of the 
year he again addressed them, their numbers amount- 
ing to above five hundred and fifty ; taking for his sub- 
ject the works of the third and fourth day. " I did 
not," he remarks, " succeed so well as before ; I sup- 
pose because I had more confidence in myself, and 
less in the Lord. I fear they did not understand me 
well ; but the few sentences that were clear, they ap- 
plauded. Speaking to them of the sea and rivers, I 
spoke to them again of the Ganges, that it was no 
more than other rivers, God loved the Hindoos ; but 



288 MEMOIR OF 

he loved other people too; and whatever river, or 
water, or other good thing, he gave Hindoos, he gave 
other people also : for all are alike before God. Gan- 
ges, therefore, is not to be worshipped ; because, so 
far from being a god, it is not better than other rivers. 
In speaking of the earth and moon, c as a candle in the 
house, so is the sun,' I said, t in the heavens. But 
would I worship a candle in my hand V These were 
nice points : I felt as if treading on tender ground, and 
was almost disposed to blame myself for imprudence. 
I thought that, amidst the silence these remarks pro- 
duced, Iheard hisses and groans; but a few Moham- 
medans applauded." 

With these new labors of love the year 1809 termi- 
nated. " Ten years have elapsed," observed Mr. Mar- 
tyn on the last day of it, " since I was first called of 
God to the fellowship of the Gospel ; and ten times 
greater than ever ought to be my gratitude to the ten- 
der mercy of my God for all that he has done for me. 
The ways of wisdom appear more sweet and reason- 
able than ever, and the world more insipid and vexa- 
tious. The chief thing I have to mourn over, is my 
want of more power and fervor in secret prayer, es- 
pecially when attempting to plead for the heathen. 
Warmth does not increase with me in proportion to 
my light." 

To the temporal and spiritual necessities of those 
wretched beings who statedly assembled before his 
house, Mr. Martyn continued to minister assiduously 
in the early part of the year 1810 ; nor did he cease 
to do so, whilst his health permitted, during the re, 
mainder of his residence at Cawnpore. The satis 



HENRY MARTY N. 289 

faction of seeing their numbers increase, sometimes 
amounting to as many as eight hundred persons, was 
exceeded by the more solid gratification of witnessing 
in them a growing attention to the instructions he de- 
livered. By degrees tumultuous applauses were suc- 
ceeded by pertinent remarks, or were lost in a serious 
and pensive silence. On one occasion, particularly, the 
apparent effect produced by his discourse was highly 
encouraging.. An extraordinary impression was made 
on his Mohammedan and pagan auditory, whom he 
had been addressing on the awful subject of the de- 
struction of Sodom and Gomorrah, with equal simpli- 
city and solemnity. " After finishing," he observes, 
" the narrative of the fall of Sodom, I said, without 
further preparation, c Do you, too, repent of your sins, 
and turn to God? 5 It was this simple sentence that 
seemed to come with great power, and prevented my 
proceeding for a time. c For though you are not like 
the men of Sodom — God forbid ! — you are neverthe- 
less sinners. Are there no thieves, fornicators, railers, 
extortioners among you? Be you sure that God is 
angry. I say not that He will burn your town ; but 
that He will burn you. Haste, therefore, out of Sodom. 
Sodom is the world, which is full of sinners and sin. 
Come out, therefore, from amongst them : forsake not 
your worldly business, but your sinful companions. 
Do not be like the world, lest you perish with them. 
Do not, like Lot, linger; say not, to-morrow we will 
repent, lest you never see to-morrow — repent to-day. 
Then, as Lot, seated on the hill, beheld the flames in 
safety, you also, sitting on the hills of heaven, shall 
behold the ruins of the world without fear.'" 

Martyn. 1 9 



290 MEMOIK OF 

In the midst of these exertions, an attack of pain in 
the chest, of a severer kind than he had before expe- 
rienced, forced upon Mr. Martyn's mind the unwel- 
come conviction of the necessity of some quiet and 
relaxation. 

Upon the subject of his health, a subject which was 
becoming but too interesting and alarming to his friends 
in general, he thus wrote to Mr. Simeon, who long 
before had warmly urged him to the most watchful 
care and prudence. " I read your letter of 6th July. 
1809, cautioning me against over-exertion, with the 
confidence of one who had nothing to fear. This was 
only three weeks ago. Since the last Lord's day your 
kind advice was brought home to my mind, accompa- 
nied with painful regret that I had not paid more at- 
tention to it. My work last Sunday was not more than 
usual, but far too much for me, I can perceive. First, 
service to his majesty's 53d regiment, in the open air; 
then at head quarters ; in the afternoon preached to 
eight hundred natives ; at night to my little flock of 
Europeans. Which of these can I forego? The minis- 
tration to the natives might be in the week : but I wish 
to attach the idea of holiness to the Sunday. My even- 
ing congregation, on Sunday, is attended by twice as 
many as in the week-day ; so how can I let this go ?" 

With what extreme reluctance Mr. Martyn " spared 
himself," we see from the above letter. The progress 
of his complaint, however, compelled him to overcome 
this reluctance ; and to the Indian congregation, when 
they next assembled, he was obliged to declare that his 
ill health prevented him from addressing them ; upon 
which hundreds of voices were heard invoking for him 



HENRY MARTY N. 291 

long life and health ; and when he dispensed his alms 
among them, their thankfulness seemed to know no 
bounds. Shortly after, however, he ventured to finish 
with these mendicants the history of Joseph, upon 
which he had entered ; and to resume also the whole 
of his duty on the Sabbath, with the exception of one 
service. And notwithstanding his extreme caution on 
that point, he received an old Hindoo woman, on the 
profession of her faith, " who, though she knew but 
little, was," he said, " lowliness itself." 

Whilst Mr. Martyn was thus laboring in the very 
fire, sometimes yielding to the pressure of his com- 
plaint, and affording himself a little ease and relaxa- 
tion ; at others, renewing it, either by private conver- 
sation or public services ; providentially for the pre- 
servation of the remnant of his health, in the begin- 
ning of June, his friend and brother, Mr. Corrie, ar- 
rived at Cawnpore, on his journey to his new station 
at Agra. This proved a most seasonable refreshment 
and relief to Mr. Martyn, both in body and mind ; for 
his friend, though himself in a weak state of health, 
undertook, by the permission of the commander-in- 
chief, who showed a kind consideration for Mr. Mar- 
tyn in his drooping condition, part of the duty, leav- 
ing to Mr. Martyn only the services of preaching to 
the natives at noon, and to the soldiers in the evening, 
in the performance of which he persuaded himself 
that he ought to persevere. 

How greatly his friends became alarmed at this 
juncture, will appear from the following animated and 
anxious letter from Mr. Brown : " You will know, 
from our inestimable brother Corrie, my solicitude 



292 MEMOIR OF 

about your health. If it could make you live longer, I 
would give up any child I have, and myself into the 
bargain. May it please the adorable, unsearchable Be- 
ing with whom we have to do, to lengthen your span ! 
Amidst the dead and the dying, nothing can be more 
apparently prosperous to the church of God, than the 
overwhelmings now taking place in the earth. Christ 
will find his way to the hearts of men, and there will 
be a great company to praise him. I know not why 
we should wish to be saved, but for this purpose ; or 
why, but for this purpose, we should desire the con- 
version of Heathen, Turks, and Infidels. To find them 
at the feet of Jesus will be a lovely sight. Our feeble 
voices cannot praise him much. We shall be glad to 
see them clapping their hands and casting their crowns 
before him ; for all in heaven and earth cannot suffi- 
ciently praise him. I see no cause to wish for any thing 
but the advancement of that knowledge by which there 
is some accession of praise to his holy and blessed 
name. We grasp and would wish to gather all to 
Christ; but without him we can do nothing; he will 
gather to himself those that are his." 

From this time till the month of September Mr. 
Martyn persisted in his ministration to the natives, 
taking for the subject of several successive discourses 
the ten commandments. On one of these occasions lie 
describes himself as speaking with great ease in his 
body, and joy in his heart. " Blessed be God," he says, 
" my strength is returning. may I live to proclaim 
salvation through a Savior's blood." But this sunshine 
was soon overclouded ; and shortly after he again re- 
lapsed. 



HENRY MARTYN. 293 

Such was the sinking state of his health notwith- 
standing the seasonable and important assistance de- 
rived from the presence of Mr. Come, that a removal 
from Cawnpore, either to make trial of the effect of a 
sea voyage, or to return for a short time to England, 
became now a matter of urgent necessity. The adop- 
tion of the latter expedient he had once determined 
upon, conceiving that his complaint might arise 
from the relaxing effect of the climate, and that a 
bracing air would in that case be beneficial. Nor was 
this resolution formed without a reluctant struggle in 
his mind ; India held out to him the most powerful at- 
tractions, however strongly his affections were drawn 
towards his native country. That he had not forgotten 
one peculiarly dear to him, is shown in the following 
record, breathing equally a spirit of touching tender- 
ness and of meek resignation. 

" Sept. 22. — " Was walking with L ; both much 

affected, and speaking on the things dearest to us both. 
I awoke, and behold it was a dream ! My mind re- 
mained very solemn and pensive — I shed tears. The 
clock struck three, and the moon was riding near her 
highest noon ; all was silence and solemnity, and I 
thought with pain of the sixteen thousand miles be- 
tween us. But good is the will of the Lord ! even if I 
see her no more." 

The precise period of his departure from Cawnpore, 
as well as the place of his ultimate destination, were 
fixed by information received from Calcutta, concern- 
ing the Persian version of the New Testament. 

The version which had first been made in that Ian 



294 MEMOIR OF 

guage, two Gospels of which had been printed, had 
been considered, on further inspection and more ma- 
ture consideration, to require too many amendments 
to admit of its immediate publication. It was accord- 
ingly returned to the translator, who, under the super- 
intendence of Mr. Martyn, bestowed so much pains 
and attention upon it as to render it a new, and it was 
hoped, a sound and accurate work. By those, howev- 
er, who were considered competent judges at Calcutta, 
it was still deemed unfit for general circulation, inas- 
much as it was thought to abound in Arabic idioms, 
and to be written in a style, pleasing indeed to the 
learned, but not sufficiently level to the capacities of 
the mass of common readers. 

At this decision Mr. Martyn was as keenly disap- 
pointed as he was delighted at the complete success of 
the Hindoostanee version, which, on the minutest and 
most rigorous revision, was pronounced to be idiomatic 
and plain. But meeting the disappointment with that 
spirit and elasticity of mind which is the result of 
lively faith, he instantly resolved, after committing 
his way to God in prayer, and consulting his friends, 
Mr. Corrie and Mr. Brown, on the subject, to go into 
Arabia and Persia, for the purpose of collecting the 
opinions of learned natives, with respect to the Per- 
sian translation, which had been rejected, as well as of 
the Arabic version, which was yet incomplete, though 
nearly finished. 

Mr. Brown's reply, on this purpose being communi- 
cated to him, is too characteristic, both of himself and 
of Mr. Martyn, to be omitted. " But can I then," said 
he, "bring myself to cut the string and let you go? 



HENRY MARTYN. 295 

I confess I could not, if your bodily frame were strong, 
and promised to last for half a century. But, as you 
burn with the intenseness and rapid blaze of heated 
phosphorus, why should we not make the most of you ? 
Your flame may last as long, and perhaps longer, in 
Arabia, than in India. Where should the phoenix build 
her odoriferous nest, but in the land prophetically call- 
ed ' the blessed V — and where shall we ever expect, 
but from that country, the true Comforter to come to 
the nations of the East? I contemplate your New 
Testament, springing up, as it were, from dust and 
ashes, but beautiful c as the wings of a dove covered 
with silver, and her feathers like yellow gold.' " 

Towards the end of September, therefore, Mr. Mar- 
tyn put himself in readiness to leave Cawnpore ; and 
on his preaching for the last time to the natives, and 
giving them an account of the life, the miracles, the 
death, and the resurrection of Jesus, as well as a sum- 
mary of his heavenly doctrine — exhorting them to 
believe in him ; and taking them to record that he had 
declared to them the glad tidings of the Gospel — it 
was but too apparent that they would never again hear 
those sounds of wisdom and mercy from his lips. On 
the opening of the new church, also, where he preach- 
ed to his own countrymen — amidst the happiness and 
thankfulness which abounded at seeing " a temple of 
God erected, and a door opened for the service of the 
Almighty, in a place where, from the foundation of 
the world, the tabernacle of the true God had never 
stood," — a mournful foreboding could not be suppress- 
ed, that he, who had been the cause of its erection, and 
who now ministered in it for the first time, in the 



296 MEMOIR OF 

beauty of holiness, would minister there no more. 
They beheld him as standing on the verge of the eter- 
nal world, and ready to take a splendid flight. " My 
father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horse- 
men thereof," were the sentiments with which many 
gazed on him. One of his auditors on this solemn oc- 
casion,* describes, in the following words, the feelings 
of many others, in depicting her own : " He began in 
a weak and faint voice, being at that time in a very 
bad state of health ; but, gathering strength as he pro- 
ceeded, he seemed as one inspired from on high. 
Never was an audience more affected. The next day 
this holy and heavenly man left Cawnpore, and the so- 
ciety of many who sincerely loved and admired him. 
He left us with little hope of seeing him again, until, 
by the mercy of our Savior, we meet with him in our 
Father's house. 5 ' 

On the first day of October, the day following the 
delivery of this affecting discourse, after fervently 
uniting in prayer with his beloved friend and brother 
Mr. Corrie, with whom he was not again to meet and 
worship until separation shall cease for ever, and 
prayer be changed into endless hallelujahs, Mr. Mar- 
tyn departed from Cawnpore for Mr. Brown's resi- 
dence at Aldeen, which he safely reached on the 
evening of the last day of the month. In his voyage 
down the Ganges nothing of particular moment oc- 
curred, except that he visited the remains of his flock 
of the 67th at Ghazeepore, " where," said he, " sad was 
the sight — many of the most hopeful were ashamed 
to look me in the face, and sorrow appeared in the 
* Mrs. Sherwood. 



HENRY MARTYN. 297 

faces of those who had remained faithful. About nine 
of these came to me in my boat, where we sung the 
hymn which begins, ' Come, ye that love the Lord f 
after which I spoke to and prayed with them, earnest- 
ly and affectionately, if ever I did in my life." This 
painful interview was succeeded by another, not unin- 
teresting, with Antonio, a monk, at Boglipore. " We 
sat in the evening," Mr. Martyn writes, " under a shed 
on the banks of the river, and began to dispute, in 
Latin, about the church. He grew a little angry, and 
I do not know what might have been the end of it \ 
but the church-bells rang for vespers, and terminated 
the controversy. The church is in his garden ; a very 
neat building, hung round with some little mean en~ 
gravings. A light was burning in the chancel, and an 
image of the Virgin, behind a curtain, as usual, was 
over the table. Antonio did not fail to bow to the 
image ; but he did it in a way which showed he was 
ashamed of himself ; at least, so I thought. He read 
some passages from the Hindoostanee Gospels, which 
I was surprised to find so well done. I begged him to 
go on with the Epistles. He had translated also the 
Missal, equally well done. He showed me the four Gos- 
pels in Persian, very poorly done. I rejoiced unfeign- 
edly at seeing so much done, though he followeth not 
with us. The Lord bless his labors ; and while he 
watereth others, may he be watered himself !" 

Restored, after an absence of four years, to an inter- 
course with his friends, who, on beholding his pallid 
countenance and enfeebled frame, knew not whether 
most to mourn or to rejoice, Mr. Martyn partook 
largely of that pure and refined happiness which is 



298 MEMOIR OF 

peculiar to one of his vivid feelings and heavenly 
affections, in that society where they that u fear the 
Lord speak often one to another, and the Lord heark- 
ens and hears, and a book of remembrance is written 
before him for them that fear the Lord, and think 
upon his name." The following letter to Mr. Simeon, 
expresses the heartfelt sentiments of one of those 
friends* to whom India in general, and Calcutta in 
particular, stand so greatly indebted, after an inter- 
view chequered alternately by the varying lights and 
shades of joy and distress. "This bright and lovely 
jewel first gratified our eyes on Saturday last. He is 
on his way to Arabia, where he is going in pursuit of 
health and knowledge. You know his genius, and 
what gigantic strides he takes in every thing. He has 
some great plan in his mind, of which I am no com- 
petent judge ; but, as far as I do understand it, the ob- 
ject is far too grand for one short life, and much be- 
yond his feeble and exhausted frame. Feeble it is, in- 
deed ! how fallen and changed ! His complaint lies in 
his lungs, and appears to be an incipient consumption. 
But let us hope that the sea-air may revive him ; and 
that change of place and pursuit may do him essen- 
tial service, and continue his life many years. In all 
other respects, he is exactly the same as he was ; he 
shines in all the dignity of love, and seems to carry 
about him such a heavenly majesty as impresses the 
mind beyond description. But if he talks much, though 
in a low voice, he sinks, and you are reminded of his 
being c dust and ashes.' " 
So infirm was the state of Mr. Main's health, that 
* The Rev. Mr. Thomason, 



HENRY MARTY N. 299 

the indulgence of conversation with his friends soon 
produced a recurrence of those symptoms which had 
occasioned alarm at Cawnpore ; and yet, notwith- 
standing this, he preached every Sabbath at Calcutta, 
with one exception only, until he finally left it. Ani- 
mated with the zeal of that Apostle who at Troas con- 
tinued his discourse until midnight, he could not re- 
frain from lifting up his voice, weak as it was, in di- 
vine warnings and invitations, in a place where some- 
thing seemed to intimate that he should never again 
declare God's judgments against the impenitent, nor 
invite the weary and heavy laden to Jesus Christ 
for rest. 

" I now pass," said Mr. Martyn, on the first day of 
the year 1811, "from India to Arabia, not knowing 
the things that shall befall me there, but assured that 
an ever-faithful God and Savior will be with me in all 
places whithersoever I may go. May he guide me and 
protect me, and after prospering me in the thing 
whereunto I go, bring me back again to my delightful 
work in India. I am perhaps leaving it to see it no 
more ; but the will of God be done ; my times are in 
his hand, and he will cut them as short as shall be 
most for my good ; and with this assurance, I feel that 
nothing need interrupt my work or my peace." 

On the 7th day of January, after having preached a 
sermon on the anniversary of the Calcutta Bible So- 
ciety, which was afterwards printed, and entitled, 
,c Christian India ; or, an Appeal on behalf of nine 
hundred thousand Christians in India who want the 
Bible;" and after having, for the last time, addressed 
the inhabitants of Calcutta, from the text of Scripture, 



300 MEMOIR OF 

" But one thing is needful," Mr. Martyn departed for 
ever from those shores, on which he had fondly and 
fully purposed to spend all his days. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

VOYAGE AND JOURNEY FROM BENGAL TO PERSIA — INSUPPORTA- 
BLE HEAT — ARRIVAL AT SHIRAZ — COMMENCES A NEW PER- 
SIAN TRANSLATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT — DISCUSSIONS 
WITH THE PERSIAN MOOLAHS. 

In the former periods of Mr. Martyn's life, we have 
seen in him the successful candidate for academical 
distinctions — the faithful and laborious pastor — the 
self-denying and devoted missionary — the indefatiga- 
ble translator of the Scriptures — the preacher of the 
Gospel to the heathen. In this, the last and shortest 
portion of the contracted term of his earthly exist- 
ence, we are called to contemplate his character in a 
new and yet more striking light, and shall have oc- 
casion to admire in him the erect and courageous spirit 
of the Christian confessor. 

The occurrences which transpired between his de- 
parture from the mouth of the Hoogley and his arri- 
val at Shiraz, occupy a period of five months. They 
are partly recorded in the following extracts from his 
private journal, and partly related in a letter to Mr. 
Corrie, from Shiraz. 



HENRY MAUTYN. 301 

" Bay of Bengal, January, 1811. 

lw I took a passage in the ship Ahmoody, Captain 
Kinsay, bound to Bombay. One of my fellow-passen- 
gers was the Honorable Mr. Elphinstone, who was 
proceeding to take the Residency of Poonah. His 
agreeable manners and classical acquirements made 
me think myself fortunate indeed, in having such a 
companion, and I found his company the most agree- 
able circumstance in my voyage." 

" Our captain was a pupil of Swartz, of whom he 
communicated many interesting particulars. Swartz, 
with Kolhoff and Joenicke, kept a school for half-cast 
children, about a mile and a half from Tanjore ; but 
went every night to the Tanjore church, to meet about 
sixty or seventy of the king's regiment, who assem- 
bled for devotional purposes : after which he officiated 
Lo their wives and children in Portuguese. At the 
school Swartz used to read in the morning out of the 
German ' Meditation for every day in the year ;' at 
night he had family prayer. Joenicke taught geogra- 
phy ; Kolhoff, writing and arithmetic. They had also 
masters in Persian and Malabar." 

" At the time when the present Rajah was in danger 
of his life from the usurper of his uncle's throne, Swartz 
used to sleep in the same room with him. This was 
sufficient protection, { for (said the captain) Swartz 
was considered by the natives as something more than 
mortal.' The old Rajah, at his death, committed his 
nephew to Swartz." 

" All down the bay of Bengal I could do nothing but 
sit listless on the poop, viewing the wide waste of wa- 



802 MEMOIR OF 

ter ; a sight that would have been beautiful, had I been 

well." 

" On the 18th we came in sight of the Island of 
Ceylon." 

" In my Hebrew researches I scarcely ever felt so 
discouraged. All the knowledge I thought I had ac- 
quired became uncertain, and consequently I was un- 
happy. It was in vain that I reflected that thousands 
live and die happy, without such knowledge as I am 
in search of." 

Jan. 20. — Sunday. — " Had divine service in the ca- 
bin in the morning, but waited in vain for what I call 
a proper opportunity of introducing family prayer. 
When shall I have done with this pernicious delicacy, 
which would rather yield up souls than suffer a wound 
itself?" 

Jan. 22. — " Came to an anchor off Columbo. In the 
afternoon went on shore with Mr. Elphinstone, and 
walked to a cinnamon garden. The road all along was 
beautiful ; tall groves of cocoa-nut trees on each side, 
with the tents of the natives among them, opened here 
and there, and gave a view of the sea. The Cingalese 
who accompanied us, told the natives who saw us, that 
we were Protestant Christians. On our way back, we 
saw a party of Cingalese Christians returning home 
from a church-yard, where they had been burying a 
corpse. I crossed over to them, and found their Cate- 
chist, who, however, spoke too little English to give 
me any information." 

Jan. 23. — " Sailed from Ceylon across the Gulf of 
Manaar, where there is generally a swell, but which 
we found smooth. Having passed Cape Comorin, and 



HENRY MARTYN. 305 

come into smooth water, I proposed having family 
prayer every night in the cabin ; and no objection was 
made. Spoke a ship to-day which was conveying pil- 
grims from Manilla to Jidda. The first object discern- 
ible under the high mountains at Cape Comorin was a 
church. As we passed along the shore, churches ap- 
peared every two or three miles, with a row of huts on 
each side. These churches are like the meeting-houses 
in England, with a porch at the west end. Perhaps 
many of these poor people, with all the incumbran- 
ces of popery, are moving towards the kingdom of 
heaven." 

Jan. 26. — " Anchored off Allepie. Learned that there 
were here about two hundred Christians, Portuguese, 
besides the fishermen caste. The church was a tempo- 
rary erection ; but a stone edifice is to be raised on the 
spot. The Portuguese Padre resides at another church 
about three miles off." 

Jan. 27 to 31. — " Generally unwell. In prayer, my 
views of my Savior have been inexpressibly consola- 
tory. How glorious the privilege that we exist but in 
him ; without him I lose the principle of life, and am 
left to the power of native corruption — a rotten branch, 
a dead thing, that none can make use of. This mass 
of corruption, when it meets the Lord, changes its na- 
ture, and lives throughout, and is regarded by God as 
a member of Christ's body. This is my bliss, that 
Christ is all. Upheld by him, I smile at death. It is 
no longer a question about my own worthiness. I 
glory in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." 

Feb. 7. — "Arrived at Goa. Spent the evening at 
Mr. 's, to whom I had letters of recommendation. 



304 MEMOIR Of 

The next day I went up, with Mr. Elphinstone and 
others, to Old Goa, where we were shown the con- 
vents and churches. At the convent of the Nuns, ob- 
serving one reading, I asked to see the book. It was 
handed through the grate; and as it was a Latin 
prayer-book, I wrote in it something about having the 
world in the heart, though flying from it to a convent. 
I tried to converse with two or three half-native 
monks, but they knew so little Latin that I could not 
gain much from them ; and the Portuguese Padres 
seemed to know still less. After visiting the tomb of 
Francis Xavier, we went to the Inquisition ; but we 
were not admitted beyond the anti-chamber. The 
priest we found there (a secular) conversed a little on 
the subject, and said that it was the ancient practice, 
that if any spoke against religion, they were conducted 
thither and chastised : that there were some prisoners 
there under examination at that time. No one dares 
resist the officers of the Inquisition ; the moment they 
touch a man, he surrenders himself." 

Feb. 17. — Sunday. — "A tempestuous sea throwing 
us all into disorder, we had no service." 

Feb. 18.—" Anchored at Bombay. This day I fin- 
ished the thirtieth year of my unprofitable life ; the 
age at which David Brainerd finished his course. I 
am now at the age at which the Savior of men began 
his ministry, and at which John the Baptist called a 
nation to repentance. Let me now think for myself, 
and act with energy. Hitherto I have made my youth 
and insignificance an excuse for sloth and imbecility : 
now let me have a character, and act boldly for God.' 

Feb. 19. — "Went on shore, Waited on the Gover- 



HENRY MARTY N. 305 

nor, and was kindly accommodated with a room at 
the government-house." 

Feb. 21. — " Talked to the Governor about what we 
had been doing at Bengal, and begged that he would 
interest himself, and procure us all the information he 
could about the native Christians, which he promised to 
do. At Bombay there are twenty thousand Christians ; 
at Salsette, twenty-one thousand ; and at this place 
there are forty-one thousand, using the Mahratta lan- 
guage." 

Feb. 22. — " At the Courier press I saw the Malay- 
alim New Testament in print, as far as the eleventh of 
John." 

Feb. 24. — " Preached at the Bombay church." 

March 5.—" Feeroz, a Parsee, who is considered the 
most learned man here, called to converse about reli- 
gion. He spoke Persian, and seemed familiar with 
Arabic. He began with saying that no one religion 
had more evidences of its truth than another, for that 
all the miracles of the respective founders depended 
upon tradition. This I denied. He acknowledged that 
the writer of the Zendavesta was not contemporary 
with Zoroaster. After disputing and raising objections, 
he was left without an answer, but continued to cavil. 
; Why, 5 said he, c did the Magi see the star in the east, 
and none else ? from what part of the east did they 
come ? and how was it possible that their king should 
come to Jerusalem in seven days?' The last piece of 
information he had from the Armenians. I asked 
him c Whether he had any thoughts of changing his 
religion V He replied, with a contemptuous smile, ' No : 
every man is safe in his own religion. 5 I asked him, 

Utertvji. 90 



306 MEMOIR OF 

What sinners must do to obtain pardon ?' c Repent/ 
said he. I asked, c Would repentance satisfy a credi- 
tor or a judge V i Why, is it not said in the Gospel,' 
rejoined he, 'that we must repent?' I replied, 'It can- 
not be proved from the Gospel, that repentance alone 
is sufficient, or good works, or both.' l Where, then, 
is the glory of salvation V he said. I replied, ' In the 
atonement of Christ. 5 ' All this,' said he, ■ I know : but 
so the Mohammedans say, that Hosyn was an atone- 
ment for the sins of men.' He then began to criticise 
the translations which he saw on the table, and won- 
dered why they were not made in such Persian as 
was now in use. He looked at the beginning of the 
eighth of Romans, in the Christian Knowledge Soci- 
ety's Arabic Testament, but could gather no meaning 
at all from it." 

March 6. — " Feeroz called again, and gave me some 
account of his own people. He said that they consid- 
ered the terms Magi and Guebre as terms of reproach, 
and that their proper name was Musdyasni; that no 
books were written in their most ancient language, 
namely the Pahlavee, but Zoroaster's twenty-one; oi 
these twenty-one, only two remain. He showed me a 
part of a poem which he is writing; the subject is the 
conquest of India by the English; the title, Georgiad. 
He is certainly an ingenious man, and possesses one 
of the most agreeable qualities a disputant can possess, 
which is, patience : he never interrupted me; and if I 
rudely interrupted him, he was silent in a moment." 

March 7. — u Mohammed Jan, a very young man. 
son of Mehdee Ali Khan, Lord Wellesley's Envoy ?n 
Persia, called. I should not have thought him worth 



HENRY MARTYN. 307 

arguing with, he seemed such a boy ; but his fluency 
m Persian pleased me so much, that I was glad to hear 
him speak ; he was, besides, familiar with all the argu- 
ments the Mouluwees usually bring forward ; more- 
over, I thought that perhaps his youthful mind might 
be more open to conviction than that of the hoary 
Moollahs." 

March 9.—" Visited the Elephanta Island." 

March 10. — Sunday. — " This morning Feeroz called 
before church. He said that their order of priesthood 
consisted in the descendants of Zoroaster, and were 
called Mobid ; that four times a month they assembled, 
viz. the 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th ; strangers were not 
allowed to see the sacred fire, ' though,' said the old 
man significantly, 'I think there is nothing unlawful 
in it, but the common people do. 5 He began to profess 
himself a deist. ' In our religion,' said he, ' they be- 
lieve as Zoroaster taught — that the heavens and earth 
were made ; but I believe no such thing.' " 

March 16. — "Walked at night with a respectable 
Jew of Bussorah, whose name was Ezra : he knew 
next to nothing." 

March 25. — " Embarked on board the Benares, Cap- 
tain Sealy ; who, in company with the Prince of 
Wales, Captain Hepburn, was ordered to cruise in the 
Persian Gulf against the Arab pirates. We got under 
way immediately, and were outside the land before 
night." 

March 31. — " The European part of the ship's crew, 
consisting of forty-five sailors and twelve artillerymen, 
were assembled on the quarter-deck to hear divine 
service. I wondered to see so many of the seamen in- 



1%J 

: 



808 MEMOIR OF 

attentive ; but I afterwards found that most of them 
were foreigners, French, Spanish, Portuguese, &c. 
We had prayers in the cabin every night. In the 
afternoon I used to read to a sick man below, and tw 
or three others would come to hear." 

April 14. — " Came in sight of the Persian coas 
near Tiz, in Meehran." 

April 21. — " Anchored at Muscat, in Arabia." 

April 23. — " Went on shore with the Captain to the 
Indian broker's, at whose house we met the Vizier, by 
appointment. There was an unimportant conference, 
at which I assisted as interpreter. The Sultan was a 
few miles off, fighting with the Wechabites." 

April 24. — " Went with our English party, two Ar- 
menians, and an Arab soldier, to see a garden ; there 
was nothing very wonderful in the garden, but a little 
green in this frightful wilderness was, no doubt, to the 
Arab a great curiosity. His African slave argued with 
me for Mohammed, and did not know how to let me 
go, he was so interested in the business." 

April 25. — " The Arab soldier and his slave came on 
board to take leave. They asked to see the GospeL 
The instant I gave them a copy in Arabic, the poor 
boy began to read, and carried it off as a great prize, 
which I hope he will find it to be. This night we warp- 
ed out of the Cove, and got under way. I had not 
had a night's rest from the day we entered it." 

April 26. — " Came in sight of the Persian shore 
again." 

April 28. — Sunday. — " At anchor in Jasques Bay, 
which the artillery officer surveyed. Captain Hepburn 
brought his crew to church. Went on board his ship 



HENRY MARTY N. 309 

to see two Armenian young men, who informed me 
of the conversion of Mirza Ishmael, son of Shehool Is- 
lam, of Isfahan, who was gone to Bombay for baptism." 

May 7. — " Finished a work, on which I have been 
engaged for a fortnight ; a new arrangement of all the 
Hebrew roots, classing them according to the last let- 
ter, the last but one, &c." 

May 20. — " After a troublesome north-wester, we 
have now a fair wind, carrying us gently to Bushire." 

May 22.—" Landed at Bushire." 

In his journey from Bushire to Shiraz, it was not 
merely the ordinary inconveniences of traveling in 
Persia, which Mr. Martyn had to combat. So intense 
was the heat of the sun in the month of June as to en- 
danger his life ; a peril of which he had no previous 
apprehension ; though, with so great an object before 
him, he would have been warranted in knowingly in- 
curring great danger towards the attainment of his 
purpose. 

Seventeen days elapsed, after landing at Bushire, be- 
fore he reached Shiraz; of these, eight were consumed 
in preparation for traveling, and the remainder in ac- 
complishing his journey. The whole period is em- 
braced, and the very interesting events of it are re- 
corded in the following letter to Mr. Corrie. 

" A few days after my letter to you from Muscat, we 
sailed for the Gulf, and continued cruising a month, 
generally in sight of Persia or Arabia, sometimes of 
both. On the 22d of May we landed at Bushire, and 
took up our lodgings with Mr. . We are now in a 



310 MEMOIR OF 

new situation. Mrs. and her sister, both Arme- 
nians, spoke nothing but Persian at table ; the servant; 
and children the same. One day a party of Armenia] 
ladies came to kiss my hand, the usual mark of re 
spect shown to their own priests ; I was engaged at 
the time, but they begged to have it explained that 
they had not been deficient in their duty. The Arme- 
nian priest was as dull as they usually are. He sent 
for me one Sunday evening, to come to church ; though 
he was ministering when I entered, he came out, and 
brought me within the rails of the altar; and at the 
time of incense, censed me four times, while the others 
were honored with only one fling of the censer: this 
the old man begged me afterwards to notice. But 
though his civility was well meant, I could hardly 
prevail upon myself to thank him for it. It was due, 
he said, to a Padre; thus we provide for the honor of 
our own order, not contented with that degree of re- 
spect which really belongs to us. Walking afterwards 
with him by the sea-shore, I tried to engage him in a 
conversation respecting the awful importance of our 
office ; but nothing could be more vapid and inane than 
his remarks. 

" One day we called on the governor, a Persian 
Khan : he was very particular in his attentions, seated 
me on his own seat, and then sat by my side. After 
the usual salutations and inquiries, the calean (or 
hookah) was introduced ; then coffee in China cups 
placed within silver ones, then calean, then some rose- 
water syrup, then calean. As there were long inter- 
vals, often, in which nought was heard but the gurg- 
ling of the calean, I looked round with some anxiety 



IS 

I 



HENRY MARTY N. 3l 1 

for something to discourse upon, and observing the 
windows to be of stained glass, I began to question 
him about the art of coloring glass, observing that the 
modern Europeans were inferior to the ancient in the 
manufacture of that article. He expressed his surprise 
that Europeans, who were so skillful in making 
watches, should fail in any handicraft work. I could 
not help recollecting the Emperor of China's sarcastic 
remark on the Europeans and their arts, and therefore 
dropped the subject. On his calean — I called it hookah 
at first, but he did not understand me — I noticed se- 
veral little paintings of the Virgin and Child, and 
asked him whether such things were not unlawful 
among the Mohammedans? He answered very coolly, 
'Yes;' as much as to say, 'What then?' I lamented 
that the Eastern Christians should use such things in 
their churches. He repeated the words of one he ve- 
nerated, who was found fault with for having an image 
before him while at prayer: c God is nearer to me 
than that image, so that I do not see it. 5 We then 
talked of the ancient Caliphs of Bagdad ; their magni- 
ficence, regard for learning, &c. This man, I after- 
wards found, is, like most of the other grandees of the 
East, a murderer. He was appointed to the govern- 
ment of Bushire, in the place of Arab Shekh, in whose 
family it had been for many years. The Persian, 
dreading the resentment of the other Arab families, 
invited the heads of them to a feast. After they had 
regaled themselves a little, he proposed to them to 
take off their swords, as they were all friends toge- 
ther : they did so, a signal was given, and a band of 
ruffians murdered them all immediately. The gover- 



312 MEMOIR OF 

nor rode off with a body of troops to their villages, and 
murdered or secured their wives and children. This 
was about two years and a half ago. 

" Abdallah Aga, a Turk, who expects to be Pacha 
of Bagdad, called to examine us in Arabic ; he is a 
great Arabic scholar himself, and came to see how 
much we knew ; or rather, if the truth were known, 
to show how much he himself knew. There was lately 
a conspiracy at Bagdad, to murder the Pacha. He was 
desired to add his name, which he did by compulsion, 
but secured himself from putting his seal to it, pre- 
tending he had lost it : this saved him. All the con- 
spirators were discovered and put to death ; he es- 
caped with his life, but was obliged to fly to Bushire. 

" On the 30th of May our Persian dresses were 
ready, and we set out for Shiraz. The Persian dress 
consists of, first, stockings and shoes in one, next, a 
pair of large blue trowsers, or else a pair of huge red 
boots ; then the shirt, then the tunic, and above it the 
coat, both of chintz, and a great coat. I have here de- 
scribed my own dress, most of which I have on at this 
moment. On the head is worn an enormous cone, 
made of the skin of the black Tartar sheep, with the 
wool on. If to this description of my dress I add, that 
my beard and mustachios have been suffered to vege- 
tate undisturbed ever since I left India — that I am sit- 
ting on a Persian carpet, in a room without tables or 
chairs — and that I bury my hand in the pillau, without 
waiting for spoon or plate — you will give me credit 
for being already an accomplished Oriental. 

"At ten o'clock, on the 30th, our cafila began to 
move. It consisted chiefly of mules, with a few horses. 



HENRY MARTY N. v5l3 

[ wished to have a mule, but the muleteer favored me 
with his own pony ; this animal had a bell fastened to 
its neck. To add solemnity to the scene, a Bombay 
trumpeter, who was going up to join the embassy, was 
directed to blow a blast as we moved off the ground j 
but whether it was that the trumpeter was not an 
adept in the science, or that his instrument was out of 
order, the crazy sounds that saluted our ears had a lu- 
dicrous effect. At last, after some jostling, mutual re- 
criminations, and recalcitrating of the steeds, we each 
found our places, and moved out of the gate of the 
city in good order. The Resident accompanied us a 
little way, and then left us to pursue our journey over 
the plain. It was a fine moonlight night, the scene 
new, and perfectly oriental, and nothing prevented me 
from indulging my own reflections. I felt a little me- 
lancholy, but commended myself anew to God, and 
felt assured of his blessing, presence, and protection. 
As the night advanced, the cafila grew quiet; on a 
sudden one of the muleteers began to sing, and sang 
in a voice so plaintive, that it was impossible not to 
have one's attention arrested. Every voice was hushed. 
As you are a Persian scholar, I write down the whole, 
with a translation : 

'Think not that e'er my heart could dwell 

Contented far from thee : 
How can the fresh-caught nightingale 
Enjoy tranquillity ? 

O then forsake thy friend for nought 

That slanderous tongues can say: 
The heart that fixeth where it ought, 

No power can rend away/ 



314 MEMOIR OF 

" Thus far my journey was agreeable ; now for mis- 
eries. At sunrise we came to our ground at Ahmede, 
six parasangs, and pitched our little tent under a tree ; 
it was the only shelter we could get. At first, the heat 
was not greater than we had felt in India, but it soon 
became so intense as to be quite alarming. When the 
thermometer was above 112°, fever heat, I began to 
lose my strength fast; at last it became quite intolera- 
ble. I wrapped myself up in a blanket and all the 
warm covering I could get, to defend myself from the 
external air ; by which means the moisture was kept a 
little longer upon the body, and not so speedily evapo- 
rated as when the skin was exposed ; one of my com- 
panions followed my example, and found the benefit of 
it. But the thermometer still rising, and the moisture 
of the body being quite exhausted, I grew restless, and 
thought I should have lost my senses. The thermo- 
meter at last stood at 126° ; in this state I composed my- 
self, and concluded that though I might hold out a day 

or two, death was inevitable. Capt. , who sat it 

out, continued to tell the hour and height of the ther- 
mometer ; and with what pleasure did we hear of its 
sinking to 120°, 118°, &c. At last the fierce sun re- 
tired, and I crept out, more dead than alive. It was 
then a difficulty how I could proceed on my journey ; 
for besides the immediate effects of the heat, I had no 
opportunity of making up for the last night's want of 
sleep, and had eaten nothing. However, while they 
were loading the mules I got an hour's sleep, and set 
out, the muleteer leading my horse, and Zachariah, 
my servant, an Armenian, of Isfahan, doing all in his 
power to encourage me. The cool air of the night re- 



HENRY MARTYN. 315 

stored me wonderfully, so that I arrived at our next 
munzel with no other derangement than that occasion- 
ed by want of sleep. Expecting another such day as 
the former, we began to make preparation the instant 
we arrived on the ground. I got a tattie made of the 
branches of the date-tree, and a Persian peasant to 
water it ; by this means the thermometer did not rise 
higher than 114°. But what completely secured me 
from the heat was a large wet towel, which I wrap- 
ped round my head and body, muffling up the lower 
part in clothes. How could I but be grateful to a gra- 
cious Providence for giving me so simple a defence 
against what, I am persuaded, would have destroyed 
my life that day. We took care not to go without 
nourishment, as we had done ; the neighboring vil- 
lage supplied us with curds and milk. At sunset, ris- 
ing np to go out, a scorpion fell upon my clothes; 
not seeing where it fell, I did not know what it was ; 

but Capt. pointing it out, gave the alarm, and 1 

struck it off, and he killed it. The night before we 
found a black scorpion in our tent; this made us ra- 
ther uneasy ; so that, though the caflla did not start 
till midnight, we got no sleep, fearing we might be 
visited by another scorpion. 

" The next morning we arrived at the foot of the 
mountains, at a place where we seemed to have disco- 
vered one of nature's ulcers. A strong suffocating smell 
of naphtha announced something more than ordinarily 
foul in the neighborhood. We saw a river ; what flowed 
in it, it seemed difficult to say, whether it were water 
or green oil; it scarcely moved, and the stones which 
it laved, it left of greyish color, as if its foul touch had 



316 MEMOIR OF 

given tliem the leprosy. Our place of encampment 
this day was a grove of date-trees, where the atmos- 
phere, at sunrise, was ten times hotter than the ambient 
air. I threw myself down on the burning ground, and 
slept: when the tent came up, I awoke, as usual, in a 
burning fever. All this day I had recourse to the wet 
towel, which kept me alive, but would allow of no 

sleep. It was a sorrowful Sabbath ; but Capt. read 

a few hymns, in which I found great consolation. At 
nine in the evening we decamped. The ground and air 
were so insufferably hot, that I could not travel with- 
out a wet towel round my face and neck. This night, 
for the first time, we began to ascend the mountains. 
The road often passed so close to the edge of the tre- 
mendous precipices, that one false step of the horse 
would have plunged his rider into inevitable destruc- 
tion. In such circumstances I found it useless to at- 
tempt guiding the animal, and therefore gave him the 
rein. These poor animals are so used to journies of 
this sort, that they generally step sure. There was no- 
thing to mark the road but the rocks being a little 
more worn in one place than in another. Sometimes 
my horse, which led the way, as being the muleteer's, 
stopped, as if to consider about the way : for myself, I 
could not guess, at such times, where the road lay ; 
but he always found it. The sublime scenery would 
have impressed me much, in other circumstances ; but 
my sleepiness and fatigue rendered me insensible to 
every thing around me. At last we emerged superas 
ad auras,* not on the top of a mountain, to go down 

* To open air. 



HENRY MARTYN. 317 

again — but to a plain or upper world. At the pass, 
where a cleft in the mountain admitted us into the 
plain, was a station of Rahdars. While they were ex- 
amining the muleteer's passports, &c. time was given 
for the rest of the cafila to come up, and I got a little 
sleep for a few minutes. We rode briskly over the 
plain, breathing a purer air, and soon came in sight of 
a fair edifice, built by the king of the country for the 
refreshment of pilgrims. In this caravansera we took 
up our abode for the day. It was more calculated for 
eastern than European travelers, having no means of 
keeping out of the air and light. We found the ther- 
mometer at 110°. At the passes we met a man travel- 
ing down to Bushire with a load of ice, which he wil- 
lingly disposed of to us. The next night we ascended 
another range of mountains, and passed over a plain, 
where the cold was so piercing, that, with all the 
clothes we could muster, we were shivering. At the 
end of this plain we entered a dark valley, contained 
by two ranges of hills converging to one another. 
The muleteer gave notice he saw robbers. It proved 
to be a false alarm ; but the place was fitted to be a re- 
treat for robbers ; there being, on each side, caves and 
fastnesses from which they might have killed every 
man of us. After ascending another mountain, we de- 
scended, by a very long and circuitous route, into an 
extensive valley, where we were exposed to the sun 
till eight o'clock. Whether from the sun, or from con- 
tinued want of sleep, I could not, on my arrival at 
Carzeroon, compose myself to sleep; there seemed to 
be a fire within my head, my skin like a cinder, and 
the pulse violent. Through the day it was again too 



318 MEMOIR OF 

hot to sleep ; though the place we occupied was a sort 
of a summer-house, in a garden of cypress trees, ex- 
ceedingly well fitted up with mats and colored glass. 
Had the cafila gone on that night, I could not have 
accompanied it ; but it halted here a day ; by which 
means I got a sort of night's rest, though I awoke 
twenty times to dip my burning hand in water. Though 
Carzeroon is the second greatest town in Fars, we 
could get nothing but bread, milk, and eggs, and those 
with difficulty. The Governor, who is under great 
obligations to the English, heard of our arrival, but 
sent no message. 

June. 5. — " At ten we left Carzeroon, and ascended a 
mountain : we then descended from it on the other 
side, into a beautiful valley, where the opening dawn 
discovered to us ripe fields of wheat and barley, with 
the green oak, here and there, in the midst of it. We 
were reminded of an autumnal morning in England. 
Thermometer G2°." 

June 6. — " Half way up the Peergan mountain we 
found a caravansera. There being no village in the 
neighborhood, we had brought supplies from Carze- 
roon. My servant Zachary got a fall from his mule 
this morning, which much bruised him; he looked 
very sorrowful, and had lost much of his garrulity. 
Zachary had become remarkable throughout the cafila 
for making speeches ; he had something to say to all 
people, and on all occasions." 

June 7. — " Left the caravansera at one this morn- 
ing, and continued to ascend. The hours we were per- 
mitted to rest, the musquitoes had effectually prevented 
me from using ; so that I never felt more miserable 



HENKY MARTY N. 31 'J 

and disordered ; the cold was very severe 5 for fear of 
falling off, from sleep and numbness, I walked a good 
part of the way. We pitched our tent in the vale of 
Dustarjan, near a crystal stream, on the banks of which 
we observed the clover and golden cup : the whole val- 
ley was one green field, in which large herds of cattle 
were browsing. The temperature was about that ol 
spring in England. Here a few hours' sleep recovered 
me, in some degree, from the stupidity in which J had 
been for some days. I awoke with a light heart, and 
said, ' He knoweth our frame, and remembereth we 
are dust. He redeemeth our life from destruction, and 
crowneth us with loving-kindness and tender mercies. 
He maketh us to lie down in the green pastures, and 
leadeth us beside the still waters.' And when we have 
left this vale of tears, there is no more sorrow, nor 
sighing, nor any more pain. ' The sun shall not light 
upon thee, nor any heat : but the Lamb shall lead thee 
to living fountains of waters.' " 

June 8. — " Went on to a caravansera, three para- 
sangs, where we passed the day. At night set out upon 
our last march for Shiraz. Sleepiness, my old com- 
panion and enemy, again overtook me. I was in per- 
petual danger of falling off my horse, till at last I push- 
ed on to a considerable distance beyond the cafila, 
planted my back against a wall, and slept I know not 
how long ; till the good muleteer came up and gently 
waked me." 

" In the morning of the 9th we found ourselves in 
the plain of Shiraz. We put up at first in a garden, but 
are now at Jaffier Ali Khan's." 

Arrived at the celebrated seat of Persian literature, 



320 MEMOIR OF 

Mr. Martyn, having ascertained the general correct- 
ness of the opinion delivered at Calcutta, respecting 
the translation of the New Testament by Sabat, imme- 
diately commenced another version in the Persian 
language. An able and willing assistant, in this ardu- 
ous and important work, presented himself in the per- 
son of Mirza Seid Ali Khan, the brother-in-law of his 
host, Jaffier Ali Khan. His coadjutor, he soon disco- 
vered, was one of a numerous and increasing religious 
community, whose tenets, if that term be not inappli- 
cable to any thing of so fluctuating and indefinite a 
nature as their sentiments, appear to consist in a re- 
fined mysticism of the most latitudinarian complexion ; 
a quality, be it remembered, entirely opposite to the 
exclusive character and inflexible spirit of Christianity; 
and which, pervading, as it does so completely, the 
system of Soofeism, sufficiently accounts for its tole- 
ration under a Mohammedan despotism, of a purer and 
more absolute kind than exists even in the Turkish 
dominions. 

In Jaffier Ali Khan, a Mohammedan of rank and 
consequence, to whom Mr. Martyn had letters of re- 
commendation, he found a singular urbanity of man- 
ners, united to a temper of more solid and substantial 
excellence — a kindness of disposition, ever fertile in 
expedients conducive to the comfort and convenience 
of his guest. There was in him also, as well as in his 
brother-in-law, what was still more gratifying, an en- 
tire absence of bigotry and prejudice; and on all occa- 
sions he was ready to invite, rather than decline, the 
freest interchange of opinion on religious topics. 

The work for which Mr. Martyn had come to Shi- 



HENRY MARTYN. 321 

raz, was commenced on the 17th of June, little more 
than a week after his reaching that city. It was pre- 
ceded by a very pleasing interview with two priests of 
the Mohammedan faith, of which we have this ac- 
count : — " In the evening, Seid Ali came, with two 
Moollahs, disciples of his uncle Mirza Ibraheem, and 
with them I had a very long and temperate discus- 
sion. One of them read the beginning of St. John in 
the Arabic, and inquired very particularly into our 
opinions respecting the person of Christ ; and when 
he was informed that we did not consider his human 
nature eternal, nor his mother divine, seemed quite 
satisfied, and remarked to the others, ' how much mis- 
apprehension is removed when people come to an ex- 
planation. 5 " 

As Mr. Martyn was himself an object of attention 
and curiosity in Shiraz, and the New Testament itself 
was wholly new to his coadjutor, he was not suffered 
to proceed with his work without many interruptions. 
" Seid Ali," he writes, June 17, "began translating the 
Gospel of John with me. We were interrupted by the 
entrance of two very majestic personages, one of whom 
was the great grandson of Nadir Shah. The uncle of 
the present king used to wait behind his father's table. 
He is now a prisoner here, subsisting on a pension." 

June 18. — " At the request of our host, who is al- 
ways planning something for our amusement, we 
passed the day at a house built half-way up one of the 
hills which surround the town. A little rivulet, issuing 
from the rock, fertilizes a few yards of ground, which 
bear, in consequence, a cypress or two, sweet briar, 
jessamine, and pinks. Here, instead of a quiet retreat, 

Martyn. 21 



322 MEMOIR OF 

we found a number of noisy, idle fellows, who were 
gambling all day, and as loquacious as the men who 
occupy an alehouse bench. The Persians have cer- 
tainly a most passionate regard for water ; I suppose 
because they have so little of it. There was nothing 
at all in this place worth climbing so high for, except 
the little rivulet." 

June 22. — " The prince's secretary, who is consi- 
dered to be the best prose-writer in Shiraz, called upon 
us. One of his friends wanted to talk about Soofeism. 
They believe they know not what. It is mere vanity 
that makes them profess this mysticism. He thought 
to excite my wonder by telling me that J, and every 
created thing, was God. I asked how this was consis- 
tent with his religion ? He then mentioned the words 
from the Koran, c God can be with another thing only 
by pervading it.' Either from curiosity, or to amuse 
themselves at an Indian's expense, they called in an 
Indian Moonshee, who had come with us from Ben- 
gal, and requested him to recite some of his poetry. 
Thus I had an opportunity of witnessing this exhibi- 
tion of Eastern folly. After a few modest apologies, 
the Indian grew bold, and struck off a few stanzas. 
The Persians affected to admire them, though it was 
easy to see that they were laughing at his pronuncia- 
tion and foreign idiom. However, they condescended 
to recite, in their turn, a line or two of their own com- 
position ; and before they went away, wrote down a 
stanza or two of the Indian's, to signify that they were 
worth preserving." 

June 26. — " Two young men from the college, fulJ 
of zeal and logic, came this morning to try me with 



HENRY MARTY N. 323 

hard questions, such as, Whether being be one or 
two? What is the state and form of disembodied spi» 
rits? and other foolish and unlearned questions, min- 
istering strife ; on all which I declined wasting my 
breath. At last, one of them, who was about twenty 
years of age, discovered the true cause of his coming, 
by asking me bluntly to bring a proof for the religion 
of Christ. ( You allow the divine mission of Christ, ; 
said I, ' why need I prove it ?' Not being able to draw 
me into an argument, they said what they wished to 
say, namely, £ that I had no other proof for the mira- 
cles of Christ than they had for those of Mohammed, 
which is tradition.' l Softly,' said I, ( you will be pleas- 
ed to observe a difference between your books and 
ours. When, by tradition, we have reached our seve- 
ral books, our narrators were eye-witnesses ; yours 
are not, nor nearly so.' In consequence of the inter- 
ruption these lads gave me, for they talked a long time 
with great intemperance, I did little to-day. 

" In the evening, Seid Ali asked me ' the cause of 
evil?' I said, i I know nothing about it.' He thought 
he could tell me; so I let him reason on, till he soon 
found he knew as little about the matter as myself. 
He wanted to prove that there was no real difference 
between good and evil — that it was only apparent. I 
observed that this difference, if only apparent, was the 
cause of a great deal of real misery. 

" While correcting the fifth of John, he was not a 
little surprised at finding such an account as that of an ' 
angel coming down and troubling the waters. When 
he found that I had no way of explaining it, but was 
obliged to understand it literally, he laughed, as if say- 



324 memoir or 

ing, 'there are other fools in the world besides Mo- 
hammedans.' I tried to lessen his contempt and incre- 
dulity by saying that 'the first inquiry was, is the 
book from God V ' Oh ! to be sure,' said he ; ' it is writ- 
ten in the Bible; we must believe it.' I asked him 
' whether there was any thing contrary to reason in the 
narrative ? whether it was not even possible that the 
salubrious powers of other springs were owing to the 
descent of an angel V Lastly, I observed, c that all 
natural agents might be called the angels of God. 5 
1 This,' he said, ' was consonant to their opinions ; 
and that when they spoke of the angel of the winds, 
the angel of death, &c. nothing more was meant than 
the cause of the winds, &c.' " 

June 27. — "Before I had taken my breakfast, the 
younger of the youths came, and forced me into a 
conversation. As soon as he heard the word c Father,' 
in the translation, used for ' God,' he laughed, and 
went away. Soon after, two men came in, and spoke 
violently for hours. Seid Ali, and a respectable Mou- 
luwee, whom he brought to introduce to me, took up 
the cudgels against them, and said that - the onus pro- 
bandi rested with them, and not with me.' Zachariah 
told me this morning that I was the town talk; and it 
was asserted that I was come to Shiraz to be a Mus- 
sulman, and should then bring five thousand men to 
Shiraz, under pretence of making them Mussulmen, 
but in reality to take the city." 

June 28. — " The poor boy, while writing how one 
of the servants of the high-priest struck the Lord on 
the face, stopped, and said, £ Sir, did not his hand dry 
up?"' 



HENRY MARTYN. 325 

June 30.— Sunday.— "Preached to the Ambassador's 
suite on the ( faithful saying.' " 

July 1. — "A party of Armenians came, and said, 
among other things, that the Mohammedans would be 
glad to be under our English government. Formerly 
they despised and hated the Feringees, but now they 
begin to say, ' What harm do they do ? they take no 
man's wife, no man's property.' 

" Abdoolghunee, the Jew Mohammedan, came to 
prove that he had found Mohammed in the Pentateuch. 
Among other strange things, he said that the Edom- 
ites meant the Europeans, and that Mount Sion was 
in Europe. Afterwards Seid Ali asked me to tell him 
in confidence, why I believed no prophet could come 
after Christ. I chose to begin with the atonement, and 
wished to show that it was of such a nature that sal- 
vation by another was impossible. ' You talk,' said he, 
{ of the atonement, but I do not see it any where in 
the gospels.' After citing two passages from the gos- 
pels, I read the third chapter of Romans, and the fifty- 
third of Isaiah. With the latter he was much struck. 
He asked many more questions, the scope of which 
was, that though Islam might not be true, he might 
still remain in it, and be saved by the Gospel. I said, 
You deny the divmijy of Christ.' { I see no difficulty 
m that,' said he. ' You do not observe the institutions 
of Christ — baptism and the Lord's supper.' ' These,' 
said he, ' are mere emblems ; and if a man have the 
reality, what need of emblems ?' ' Christ,' said I, J fore- 
saw that the reality would not be so constantly per- 
ceived without them, and therefore enjoined them. 5 
He said that ( in his childhood he used to cry while 



326 MEMOIR OF 

hearing about the sufferings of Cnrist,' and he wepi 
while mentioning it." 

The 3d of July was distinguished by a conversation 
kept up between Mr. Marty n and two Moollahs, one 
of whom displayed a very different spirit from that 
which had actuated those ministers of the Mohamme- 
dan religion who first visited him. " The Jewish Mool- 
Jah Abdoolghunee, with Moollah Abulhasan," he 
writes, " came prepared for a stiff disputation, and ac- 
cordingly the altercation was most violent. Jaflier 
Ali Khan and Mirza Seid Ali were present, with many 
others. The Jew began by asking, whether we be- 
lieved that Jesus suffered ? I referred him to the 9th 
of Daniel, £ Messiah shall be cut off, but not for him- 
self.' I begged him to show who was the Messiah of 
whom Daniel spoke, if it was not Jesus. 

" At Abulhasan's request, he began to give his rea- 
sons for believing that Mohammed was foretold in the 
Old Testament. The Jew wanted to show that when 
it is said, i Moses went out, and the twelve princes 
with him,' the meaning is that Moses had twelve reli- 
gious Khaleefs, just like Mohammed. I explained to 
the Mussulman that they were not for religious affairs, 
but worldly ; deciding causes, &c. ; and that religious 
services were confined to one tribe. 

" He proceeded to Deut. 18 : 18, ' The Lord will 
raise from among their brethren.' t Brethren,' he said. 
1 must mean some ether than Jews. That Moses and 
Jesus were not alike. Moses gave a law before he 
went : Jesus did not • his disciples made one for him : 
whereas Mohammed left a book himself. That Moses 
was a warrior : that Christ was not • but that Moham- 



HENRY MARTYN. 327 

med was.' I replied — ' that the words of God, " from 
among their brethren" Moses explained by those, 
" from among thee yl and that this excludes the possi- 
bility of Mohammed being meant.' After they were 
gone, I found Lev. 25 : 46, which supplies a complete 
answer. In reply to the objection that Moses and 
Christ were not alike, I said, ' that in respect of the 
prophetic office, there was such a likeness as did not 
exist between any other two prophets ; in that each 
brought a new law, and each was a Mediator.' 

" The Jew next read the sixty-first of Isaiah, and 
commented. I then read the same chapter, and ob- 
served that Christ had cited one of the passages for 
himself. l The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,' &c. 
This they attended to, because Christ had said so ; but 
as for Peter's appropriating the passage in Deuterono- 
my to Christ (Acts, 3,) they made no account of it. So 
ignorant are they of the nature of revelation. 

'• When we were separating, the Moollah Abulhasan 
gravely asked me whether, if I saw proof of Moham- 
med's miracles, I would believe, and act as one who 
sought the truth V I told him ' I wished for nothing 
but the truth.' He then said, ' we must have an um- 
pire.' l But where,' said I, ' shall we find an impartial 
one V i He must be a Jew,' said one. ' Well, then,' 
added another, \ let Abdoolghunee be the man.' The 
apostate Jew swore, by the four sacred books, that he 
would give ' just judgment.' I could not conceal my 
indignation at such a ridiculous proposal, and said to 
the Jew, ' You impartial ! As a Mohammedan, yo-» 
ought to speak well of Christ ; but it is easy to see 
that, like your brethren, you hate Jesus as bitterly as 



328 MEMOIR OF 

ever.' He was quite alarmed at this charge before the 
Mohammedans, by whom he has long been considered 
as no true Mohammedan ; and, in the most gentle 
manner possible, he assured me that { none could have 
a greater respect for Jesus than he had ; and that, pos- 
sibly, in the text in Deuteronomy, Jesus might be 
meant as well as Mohammed.' 

" At the end of this vehement controversy, when 
they were most of them gone, I said to Seid Ali, ' that 
I had thought, whatever others did, he would not have 
denied me common justice.' He took me aside, and 
said to me very earnestly, ' You did not understand 
me. Abulhasan is my enemy : nothing does he want 
so much as to bring me into danger ; I must therefore 
show some little regard for the religion.' He told me 
that Mirza Ibraheem, the preceptor of all the Moollahs, 
was now writing a book in defence of Mohammedan- 
ism, and that it was to this that Abulhasan alluded, as 
that which was to silence me for ever." 

July 4. — " Seid Ali having informed the Jew that 1 
had found an answer to his argument from Genesis. 
14, he came to know what it was, and staid the whole 
morning, asking an infinity of questions. He showed 
himself extremely well read in the Hebrew Bible and 
Koran, quoting both with the utmost readiness. He 
argued a little for the Koran, but very coldly. He con- 
cluded by saying, ' he must come to me every day, 
and either make me a Mussulman, or become himseli 
a Christian.' " 

The progress of the translation gave rise to the fol- 
lowing affecting discourse between Seid Ali and Mr. 
Martyn. " Seid Ali, while perusing the twelfth of John, 



HENRY MARTYN. 329 

observed, c How he loved these twelve persons !' c Yes, 
said I, ' and all those who believe on him through their 
word.' After our work was done, he began to say, 
1 From my childhood I have been in search of a reli- 
gion, and am still undecided. Till now, I never had 
an opportunity of conversing with those of another 
religion : the English I have met in Persia have gene- 
rally been soldiers, or men occupied with the world.' 
To some remarks I made about the necessity of hav- 
ing the mind made up upon such a subject, consider- 
lag the shortness of our stay here, he seemed cordial- 
ly to assent, and shed tears. I recommended prayer, 
and the consideration of that text, ' If any man will do 
his will, he shall know of the doctrine ;' and spoke 
as having found it verified in my own experience ; that 
when I could once say before God, l What wilt thou 
have me to do V I found peace. I then went through 
all the different states of my mind at the time I was 
called to the knowledge of the Gospel. He listened 
with great interest, and said, c You must not regard 
the loss of so much time as you give me, because it 
does me good.' " 

The situation of those whose forefathers crucified 
the Lord of glory, is ever pitiable to a Christian mind , 
but how much more are the Jews entitled to compas- 
sion, when groaning under the iron rod of oppression 
on the one hand, and tempted on the other to exchange 
their own religion for a base imposture, upon the 
basest considerations ! Who can read the following ac- 
count of their condition at Shiraz, without sighing over 
the depth of their temporal and spiritual degradation 

July 5, — u The Jew came again, with another Jew, 



330 MEMOIR OF 

both Mussulmen. The prince gives every Jew, on con- 
version, an honorary dress ; so they are turning Mo 
hammedans every day. A young man, son of the old 
Jew, asked, ' How it could be supposed that God would 
leave so many nations so long in darkness, if Islam be 
an error V The father sat with great complacency, to 
see how I could get over this. I asked, ' Why God for 
four thousand years made himself known to their na- 
tion only, and left all the rest in darkness?' They 
were silent. 

" The old man, forgetting he was a Mussulman, 
asked again, ' If Jesus was the Messiah, why did not 
the fiery wrath of God break out against them, as it 
did formerly for every small offence?' ' But first,' said 
he, c what do you think of God's severity to the Jews 
at other times ?' I said, c If my son do any thing 
wrong, I punish him ; but with the thieves and mur- 
derers out of doors I have nothing to do.' This affect- 
ed the old man; and his son recollected many pas- 
sages in the Bible appropriate to this sentiment, and 
said, 'Yes, they were indeed a chosen generation.' I 
proceeded — ' But did not the wrath of God break out 
against you at the death of Christ, in a more dreadful 
manner than ever it did?' They mentioned the capti 
vity. 'But what,' said I, c was the captivity? it lasted 
but seventy years. But now seventeen hundred years 
have passed away, and have you a king or a tem- 
ple ? Are you not mean and despised every where V 
They seemed to feel this, and nodded assent. 

"During this conversation I said — ' God has raised 
up a great prophet from the midst of you, and now 
you are gone after a stranger, of a nation who were 



HENRY MARTYN. 331 

mJways your enemies. You acknowledge Jesus, in 
deed ; but it is only for fear of the sword of the Ish- 
maelite.' They wondered why the Christians should 
love them more than they do the Mohammedans, as I 
told them we did ; and pretended to argue against it, 
as unreasonable, evidently from a wish to hear me 
repeat a truth which was so agreeable to them." 

On the morning of the 6th, Mr. Martyn, ever anx- 
ious to pay all due reverence to ' the powers that be,' 
presented himself, with the Ambassador and suite, 
before Prince Abbas Mirza. He thus describes the 
ceremony : " Early this morning I went with the Am- 
bassador and his suite to court, wearing, agreeable to 
costume, a pair of red cloth stockings, with green, 
high-heeled shoes. When we entered the g^reat court 
of the palace, a hundred fountains began to play. The 
Prince appeared at the opposite side, in his talar, or 
hall of audience, seated on the ground. Here our first 
bow was made. When we came in sight of him, we 
bowed a second time, and entered the room. He did 
not rise, nor take notice of any but the Ambassador, 
with whom he conversed at the distance of the breadth 
of the room. Two of his ministers stood in front of 
the hall, outside; the Ambassador's Mihmander and 
the Master of the Ceremonies, within, at the door. 
We sat down in order, in a line with the Ambassador, 
with our hats on. I never saw a more sweet and en- 
gaging countenance than the Prince's ; there was such 
an appearance of good nature and humility in all his 
demeanor, that I could scarcely bring myself to be- 
lieve that he would be guilty of any thing cruel or ty» 
rannical." 



332 MEMOIR OF 






The Jewish Moollah, who, a few days before, had 
attempted to support a heresy which he himself did 
not believe, revisited Mr. Martyn, accompanied by one 
of his brethren who had apostatized. These were fol 
lowed, on the same day, by two other visitors, one oi 
whom was a man of great consequence, and of equal 
courtesy. " The Jew came again," he says, " with 
one of his apostate brethren from Bagdad. As he was 
boasting to Seid Ali that he had gained one hundred 
Jews to Islam, I could not help saying, I will tell you 
how Jews are made Mohammedans. First, the Prince 
gives them a dress ; secondly — here the old man co- 
lored, and, interrupting me, began to urge that it was 
not with the hope of any worldly advantage. 

"His object to-day was, to prove that the passages 
in the Old Testament, which we applied to Jesus, did 
not belong to him. I referred him to the 16th Psalm. 
He said ' that none of the prophets saw corruption.' 
He did not recollect the miracle wrought by the bones 
of Elisha ; neither did I at the time. 

" Mohammed Shareef Khan, one of the most re- 
nowned of the Persian generals, having served the 
present royal family for four generations, called to see 
me, out of respect to general Malcolm. An Armenian 
priest also, on his way from Bussorah to Isfahan : he 
was as ignorant as the rest of his brethren. To my 
surprise I found he was of the Latin Church, and read 
the service in Latin, though he confessed he knew 
nothing about the language." 

Mr. Martyn, unwilling to lose any opportunity (if it 
were the will of God) of benefiting the inhabitants of 
Shiraz, was never inaccessible to them. Strict as he 



HENRY MARTYN. 333 

was in the observance of the Sabbath, he admitted 
them even on that day to speak with him ; for he had 
learnt the import of those words, " I will have mercy 
and not sacrifice." In consequence, however, of his re- 
moval, in the middle of the month of July, to a gar- 
den in the suburbs of the city, where his kind host 
had pitched a tent for him, to relieve the tedium of 
confinement within the walls of Shiraz, he prosecuted 
the work before him uninterruptedly. " Living amidst 
clusters of grapes, by the side of a clear stream," as he 
describes it, and frequently sitting under the shade 
of an orange-tree, which Jaffier Ali Khan delighted to 
point out to- visitors, he passed many a tranquil hour, 
and enjoyed many a Sabbath of holy rest and divine 
refreshment. Of one of these Sabbaths he thus writes, 
July 14. — "The first Sabbath morning I have had to 
myself this long time, and I spent it with comfort and 
profit. Read Isaiah chiefly ; and hymns, which, as 
usual, brought to my remembrance the children of 
God in all parts of the earth ; remembered, especially, 
dear , as he desired me, on this his birth-day." 



CHAPTER IX. 

FIRST PUBLIC DISCUSSION AT SHIRAZ — MR. MARTYN REPLIES TO 
A DEFENCE OF MOHAMMEDANISM — INTERVIEW WITH THE 

HEAD OF THE SOOFIES VISITS PERSEPOLIS — TRANSLATIONS — 

DISCUSSIONS. 

The day following this happy, though solitary Sab- 
bath, formed a contrast to its peaceful and sacred se- 



334 MEMOIR OF 

renity ; being the day of Mr. Marty n's first public con 
troversy with the Mohammedans. 

After some hesitation and demur, the Moojtuhid 
or Professor of Mohammedan Law, consented to a 
discussion upon religious topics. He was a man of great 
consequence in Shiraz, being the last authority in the 
decision of all matters connected with his profession ; 
so that a contest with him, as it respected rank, pre- 
judice, popularity, and reputation for learning, was 
manifestly an unequal one. Mr. Martyn, however, 
fearlessly engaged in it, knowing in whom he had be- 
lieved. 

The subjoined is the account he has left of this dis- 
putation, if such indeed it can be called ; for the Pro- 
fessor, it seems, could not so far forget his official dig- 
nity as to dispute fairly and temperately ; he preferred 
the easier task of dogmatising magisterially. 

" He first ascertained from Seid Ali," says Mr. Mar- 
tyn, " that I did not want demonstration, but admitted 
that the prophets had been sent. So, being a little easy 
at this assurance, he invited us to dinner. About eight 
o'clock at night we went, and, after passing along 
many an avenue, we entered a fine court, where was a 
pond, and, by the side of it, a platform, eight feet high, 
covered with carpets. Here sat the Moojtuhid in state, 
with a considerable number of his learned friends — 
among the rest, I perceived the Jew. One was at his 
prayers. I was never more disgusted at the mockery 
of this kind of prayer. He went through the evolutions 
with great exactness, and pretended to be unmoved at 
the noise and chit-chat of persons on each side of him. 
The Professor seated Seid Ali on his right hand 5 and 



HENRY MAKTYN. 335 

me on his left. Every thing around bore the appear- 
ance of opulence and ease, and the swarthy obesity of 
the little personage himself led me to suppose that he 
had paid more attention to cooking than to science. 
But when he began to speak, I saw reason enough for 
his being so much admired. The substance of his 
speech was flimsy enough ; but he spoke with uncom- 
mon fluency and clearness, and with a manner confi- 
dent and imposing. He talked for a full hour about the 
soul, its being distinct from the body, superior to the 
brutes, &c. — about God ; his unity, invisibility, and 
other obvious and acknowledged truths. After this 
followed another discourse. At length, after clearing 
his way for miles around, he said ' that philosophers 
had proved that a single being could produce but a 
single being ; that the first thing God had created was 
Wisdom,, a being perfectly one with him ; after that, 
the souls of men, and the seventh heaven; and so on, 
till he produced matter, which is merely passive.' He 
illustrated the theory, by comparing all being to a 
circle ; at one extremity of the diameter is God, at the 
opposite extremity of the diameter is matter, than which 
nothing in the world is meaner. Rising from thence, 
the highest stage of matter is connected with the low- 
est stage of vegetation ; the highest of the vegetable 
world with the lowest of the animal ; and so on, till 
we approach the point from which all proceeded. 
' But,' said he, l you will observe, that next to God, 
something ought to be, which is equal to God; for 
since it is equally near, it possesses equal dignity. 
What this is, philosophers are not agreed upon. You, 1 
said he, { say it is Christ ; but we, that it is the Spirit 



338 MEMOIR OF 

of the Prophets. All this is what the philosophers have 
proved, independently of any particular religion. 5 I 
rather imagined that it was the invention of some an- 
cient Oriental Christian, to make the doctrine of the 
Trinity appear more reasonable. There were a hun 
dred things in the Professor's harangue that might 
have been excepted against, as mere dreams supported 
by no evidence : but I had no inclination to call in 
question dogmas, on the truth or falsehood of which 
nothing in religion depended. 

" He was speaking, at one time, about the angels ; 
and asserted that man was superior to them ; and that 
no being greater than man could be created. Here the 
Jew reminded me of a passage in the Bible, quoting 
something in Hebrew. I was a little surprised, and 
was just about to ask, where he found any thing in the 
Bible to support such a doctrine ; when the Moojtuhid, 
not thinking it worth while to pay any attention to 
what the Jew said, continued his discourse. At last 
the Jew grew impatient, and, finding an opportunity 
of speaking, said to me, c Why do you not speak? — 
Why do not you bring forward your objections?' The 
Professor, at the close of one of his long speeches, 
said to me, ' You see how much there is to be said on 
these subjects ; several visits will be necessary ; we 
must come to the point by degrees.' Perceiving how 
much he dreaded a close discussion, I did not mean to 
hurry him, but let him talk on, not expecting we 
should have any thing about Mohammedanism the 
first night. But, at the instigation of the Jew, I said, 
'Sir, you see that Abdoolghunee is anxious that you 
should say something about Islam.' He was much 



HENRY MAHTYN. 337 

displeased at being brought so prematurely to the 
weak point, but could not decline accepting so direct 
a challenge. 'Well,' said he to me, 'I must ask you a 
few questions. Why do you believe in Christ V I re- 
plied, i That is not the question. I am at liberty to 
say that I do not believe in any religion ; that I am a 
plain man, seeking the way of salvation; that it was, 
moreover, quite unnecessary to prove the truth of 
Christ to Mohammedans, because they allowed it.' 
c No such thing, 5 said he. ' The Jesus we acknowledge 
is he who was a prophet, a mere servant of God, and 
one who bore testimony to Mohammed; not your 
Jesus, whom you call God,' said he, with a contemp- 
tuous smile. He then enumerated the persons who had 
spoken of the miracles of Mohammed, and told a long 
story about Salmon, the Persian, who had come to 
Mohammed. I asked c whether this Salmon had writ- 
ten an account of the miracles he had seen ?' He con- 
fessed that he had not. • Nor,' said I, ' have you a sin- 
gle witness to the miracles of Mohammed.' He then 
tried to show, that though they had not, there was 
still sufficient evidence. ' For,' said he, ' suppose five 
hundred persons should say that they heard some 
particular thing of a hundred persons who were with 
Mohammed — would that be sufficient evidence or not?' 
i Whether it be or not,' said I, ' you have no such evi- 
dence as that, nor any thing like it ; but if you have, 
as they are something like witnesses, we must pro- 
ceed to examine them, and see whether their testi- 
mony deserves credit.' 

" After this, the Koran was mentioned ; but as the 
company began to thin, and the great man had not a 

Marty a. 22 



338 MEMOIR L/f 

sufficient audience before whom to display his elo- 
quence, the dispute was not so brisk. He did not, in- 
deed, seem to think it worth while to notice my ob- 
jections. He mentioned a well known sentence in the 
Koran, as being inimitable. I produced another sen- 
tence, and begged to know why it was inferior to the 
Koranic one. He declined saying why, under pre- 
tence that it required such a knowledge of rhetoric in 
order to understand his proofs, as I probably did not 
possess. A scholar afterwards came to Seid Ali. with 
twenty reasons for preferring Mohammed's sentence 
to mine. 

"It was midnight when dinner, or rather supper, 
was brought in : it was a sullen meal. The great man 
was silent ; and I was sleepy. Seid Ali, however, had 
not had enough. While burying his hand in the dish 
of the Professor, he softly mentioned some more of 
my objections. He was so vexed, that he scarcely an- 
swered any thing ; but, after supper, told a very long 
story, all reflecting upon me. He described a grand 
assembly of Christians, Jews, Guebres, and Sabians, 
(for they generally do us the honor of stringing us 
with the other three J before Iman Ruza. The Chris- 
tians were, of course, defeated and silenced. It was a 
remark of the Iman's, in which the Professor acqui- 
esced, ' That it is quite useless for Mohammedans and 
Christians to argue together, as they had different 
languages and different histories.' To the last I said 
nothing; but to the former replied by relating the 
fable of the lion and man, which amused Seid Ali so 
much, that he laughed out before the great man, and 
all the way home, 5 ' 



HENRY MAKTYN. 339 

So universal a spirit of inquiry had been excited in 
the city of Shiraz, by Mr. Martyn's frequent disputa- 
tions, as well as by the notoriety of his being engaged 
in a Translation of the New Testament into Persian, 
that the Preceptor of all the Moolldhs began greatly 
to J fear whereunto this would grow.' On the 26th of 
July, therefore, an Arabic defence of Mohammedanism 
made its appearance from his pen. A considerable 
time had been spent in its preparation ; and on seeing 
the light, it obtained the credit of surpassing all former 
treatises upon Islam. 

This work, as far as a judgment of it can be formed 
from a translation discovered amongst Mr. Martyn's 
papers, is written with much temper and moderation, 
and with as much candor as is consistent with that 
degree of subtilty which is indispensable in an apology 
for so glaring an imposture as Mohammedanism. 

The chief Moollah begins by declaring his desire to 
avoid all altercation and wrangling ; and expresses 
his hope that God would guide into the right way 
those whom he chose. He then endeavors, in the body 
of the work, to show the superiority of the single per- 
petual miracle of the Koran, addressed to the under- 
standing, above the variety of miracles wrought by 
Moses and by Christ, which were originally addressed 
only to the senses ; and that these, from lapse of time, 
become every day less and less powerful in their in- 
fluence. And he concludes with the following address 
to Mr. Martyn : 

" Thus behold, then, O thou that art wise, and con- 
sider with the eye of justice, since thou hast no excuse 
to offer to God. Thou hast wished to see the truth of 



340 MEMOIR OF 

miracles. We desire you to look at the great Koran: 
that is an everlasting miracle. 

"This was finished by Ibraheem ben al Hosyn, aftei 
the evening of the second day of the week, the 23d oi 
the month Iemadi, the second in the year 1223 of the 
Hegira of the Prophet. On him who fled be a thousand 
salutations !" 

This work Mr. Marty n immediately set himself to 
refute, in dependence on his Savior to ' give him wis- 
dom which his adversaries should not be able to gain- 
say. 5 His answer was divided into two parts ; the first 
was principally devoted to an attack on Mohamme- 
danism ; the second was intended to display the evi- 
dences and establish the authority of the Christian 
faith. It was written in Persian, and from a transla- 
tion of the first part, which has been found, we perceive 
that Mr. Martyn, ' having such hope, used great plain- 
ness of speech,' whilst at the same time he treated his 
opponent with meekness and courtesy. 

After replying to the various arguments of Mirza 
Ibraheem, Mr. Martyn shows why men are bound to 
reject Mohammedanism ; that Mohammed was fore- 
told by no prophet ; that he worked no miracles ; that 
he spread his religion by means merely human, and 
framed his precepts and promises to gratify men's sen- 
suality, both here and hereafter ; that he was most 
ambitious, both for himself and his family; that his 
Koran is full of gross absurdities and palpable contra- 
dictions ; that it contains a method of salvation wholly 
inefficacious, which Mr. Martyn contrasted with the 
glorious and efficacious way of salvation held out in 



HENRY MARTYN. 341 

the Gospel, through the divine atonement of Jesus 
Christ. He concludes by addressing Mirza Ibraheem 
in these words : 

" I beg you to view these things with the eye of im- 
partiality. If the evidence be indeed convincing, mind 
not the contempt of the ignorant, nor even death itself; 
for the vain world is passing away like the wind of 
the desert. 

" If you do not see the evidence to be sufficient, my 
prayer is that God may guide you ; so that you, who 
have been a guide to men in the way you thought 
right, may now both see the truth, and call men to God 
through Jesus Christ, 'who hath loved us, and wash- 
ed us from our sins in his blood. 5 His glory and do- 
minion be everlasting !" 

Reverting to the Journal, we meet with the follow- 
ing statements illustrative of the Persian character, 
and descriptive of the genius of Soofeism. From these, 
also, we discover, that notwithstanding individuals 
were to be found in Shiraz who professed Mohamme- 
danism without having imbibed the spirit of cruelty 
and extermination which belongs to it, Mr. Martyn 
was nevertheless exposed to personal danger there, 
and subject to much contempt and many insults. 

July 29. — "Mirza Ibraheem declared publicly, before 
all his disciples, 'that if I really confuted his argu- 
ments he should be bound in conscience to become a 
Christian.' Alas ! from such a declaration I have little 
hope. His general good character for uprightness and 
unbounded kindness to the poor, would be a much 
stronger reason with me for believing that he may 
perhaps be a Cornelius." 



342 MEMOIR OF 

Aug. 2. — " Much against his will, Mirza Ibraheem 
was obliged to go to his brother, who is governor oi 
some town, thirty-eight parasangs off. To the last mo- 
ment he continued talking with his nephew on the 
subject of his book, and begged that, in case of his de- 
tention, my reply might be sent to him." 

Aug. 7. — " My friends talked as usual, much abou 
what the}' call Divine love ; but I do not very we! 
comprehend what they mean. They love not the hoi) 
God, but the God of their own imagination ; a GoC 
who will let them do as they please. 

" I often remind Seid Aii of one defect in his sys 
tern, which is, that there is no one to stand between his 
sins and God. Knowing what I allude to, he says, 
6 Well, if the death of Christ intervene, no harm ; 
Soofeism can admit this too.' " 

Aug. 14. — "Returned to the city in a fever, which 
continued all the next day, until the evening." 

Aug. 15. — "Jani Khan, in rank corresponding to 
one of our Scotch dukes, as he is the head of all the 
military tribes of Persia, and chief of his own tribe, 
which consists of twenty thousand families, called on 
Jaffier Aii Khan, with a message from the king. He 
asked me a great number of questions, and disputed a 
little. ' I suppose, 5 said he, ' you consider us all as in- 
fidels V ' Yes,' replied I, ' the whole of you.' He was 
mightily pleased with my frankness, and mentioned it 
when he was going away." 

Aug. 22. — " The copyist having shown my answer 
to a Moodurris, called Moollah Acber, he wrote on the 
margin with great acrimony, but little sense. Seid 
Aii having shown his remarks in some companies 



HENRY MARTYN. 343 

thoy begged him not to show them to me, for fear 1 
snould disgrace them all through the folly of one man." 

Aug. 23. — " Ruza Cooli Mirza, the great grandson 
of Nadir Shah, and Aga Mohammed Hasan, called. 
The prince's nephew, hearing of my attack on Mo- 
hammed, observed that ' the proper answer to it was 
the sword ;' but the prince confessed that he began to 
have his doubts. On his inquiring what were the laws 
of Christianity — meaning the number of times of 
prayer, the different washings, &c. — I said that we 
had two commandments, ' Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all 
thy strength; and thy neighbor as thyself. 5 He asked, 
1 what could be better V and continued praising them. 

" The Moollah Aga Mohammed Hasan, himself a 
Moodurris, and a very sensible, candid man, asked a 
good deal about the European philosophy; particu- 
larly what we did in metaphysics: — for instance, 
' how, or in what sense the body of Christ ascended 
into heaven?' He talked of free-will and fate, and 
reasoned high, and at last reconciled them according 
to the doctrines of the Soofies, by saying, that ' as all 
being is an emanation of the Deity, the will of every 
being is only the will of the Deity ; so that, therefore, 
in fact, free-will and fate are the same.' He has nothing 
to mid fault with in Christianity, except the divinity 
of Christ. It is this doctrine that exposes me to the 
contempt of the learned Mohammedans, in whom it is 
difficult to say whether pride or ignorance predomi- 
nates. Their sneers are more difficult to bear than the 
brickbats which the boys sometimes throw at me: 
however, both are an honor of which I am not worthy. 



344 memoir or 

How many times in the day have I occasion to repeat 
the words, 

4 If on my face, for thy dear name, 
Shame and reproaches be ; 
All hail reproach, and welcome shame, 
If thou remember me.' 

" The more they wish me to give up this one point— 
the Divinity of Christ — the more I seem to feel the ne 
cessity of it, and rejoice and glory in it. Indeed, J 
trust I would sooner give up my life than surrender it.' 1 

The following account of an interview, to which Mr 
Martyn was admitted, with the head of the sect of the 
Soofies, will interest those whose thoughts are turned 
towards the state of religion in the East : a large pro- 
portion of the people of Shiraz, it is computed, are 
either the secret or avowed disciples of Mirza Abulca- 
sim. Whenever l a great and effectual door ' is opened 
for Christianity, i there are many adversaries.' It is 
otherwise with a delusion congenial to the ' desires of 
the flesh and of the mind ' in fallen man. Such a sys- 
tem the god of this world is concerned to uphold ra- 
ther than oppose. 

" In the evening we went to pay a long-promised 
visit to Mirza Abulcasim, one of the most renowned 
Soofies in ail Persia. We found several persons sitting 
in an open court, in which a few greens and flowers 
were placed ; the master was in a corner. He was a 
very fresh-looking old man, with a silver beard. I was 
surprised to observe the downcast and sorrowful looks 
of the assembly, and still more at the silence which 



HENRY MARTYN. 345 

reigned. After sitting some time in expectation, and 
being not at all disposed to waste my time in sitting 
there, I said softly to Seid Ali, ( What is this ?' He 
said, c It is the custom here to think much and speak 
little.' — ' May I ask the master a question ?' said I. 
With some hesitation he consented to let me : so I 
begged Jaffier Ali to inquire, ' Which is the way to be 
happy?' 

" This he did in his own manner : he began by ob- 
serving that ( there was a great deal of misery in the 
world, and that the learned shared as largely in it as 
the rest ; that I wished, therefore, to know what we 
must do to escape it.' The master replied, that, c for his 
part, he did not know, but that it was usually said that 
the subjugation of the passions was the shortest way 
to happiness.' 

" After a considerable pause, I ventured to ask ' what 
were his feelings in the prospect of death — hope or 
fear, or neither ?' — ; Neither,' said he, and that i plea- 
sure and pain were both alike.' I then perceived that 
the stoics were Greek Soofies. I asked { whether he 
had attained this apathy?' He said, c No.' 'Why do 
you think it attainable?' He could not tell. ; Why 
do you think that pleasure and pain are not the same ?' 
said Seid Ali, taking his master's part. i Because,' 
said I, c I have the evidence of my senses for it. And 
you also act as if there was a difference. W 7 hy do you 
eat, but that you fear pain ?' These silent sages sat 
unmoved. 

" One of the disciples is the son of the Moojtuhid, 
who, greatly to the vexation of his father, is entirely 
devoted to the Soofie doctor. He attended his caieau 



346 MEMOIR OF 

with the utmost humility. On observing the pensive 
countenance of the young man, and knowing some- 
thing of his history from Seid Ali, how he had left al) 
to find happiness in the contemplation of God, I longed 
to make known the glad tidings of a Savior, and thank 
ed God, on coming away, that I was not left ignorant 
of the Gospel. I could not help being a little pleasant 
on Seid Ali, afterwards, for his admiration of this si- 
lent instructor. ' There you sit,' said I, ' immersed in 
thought, full of anxiety and care, and will not take the 
trouble to ask whether God has said any thing or not. 
No : that is too easy and direct a way of coming at the 
truth. I compare you to spiders, who weave their 
house of defence out of their own bowels ; or to a set 
of people who are groping for a light in broad day.' " 

Mr. Martyn's mathematical acquirements were to 
him invaluable, inasmuch as they gave him that habit 
of patient and persevering study, which was sanctified 
in the application of his powers to the highest ends 
and purposes. There were also occasions in which 
this and other sciences were of service to the cause he 
had at heart, by procuring for him that attention and 
respect which learning ever secures in countries where 
the light of civilization shines, even though but faintly 
and imperfectly. Of this we have an instance in the 
following account. 

Aug. 26. — " Waited this morning on Mohammed 
Nu bee Khan, late ambassador at Calcutta, and now 
prime minister of Fars. There were a vast number of 
clients in his court, with whom he transacted business 
while chatting with us. Amongst the others who 



HENRY MARTYN. 347 

came and sat with us, was my tetric adversary, Aga 
Acbei, who came for the very purpose of presenting 
the minister with a little book he had written in an- 
swer to mine. After presenting it in due form, he sat 
down, and told me he meant to bring me a copy that 
day; a promise which he did not perform, through 
Seid Ali's persuasion, who told him it was a perform- 
ance that would do him no credit. Aga Acber gave 
me a hint respecting its contents, namely, that there 
were four answers to my objections to Mohammedans 
using the sword. 

" He then, without any ceremony, began to question 
me, before the company, (there were more than fifty 
in the hall, and crowds in front, all listening,) about 
the European philosophy; and brought objections 
against the world's motion, with as much spleen as if 
he had an estate which he was afraid would run away 
from him. As it was a visit of mere ceremony, I was 
not a little surprised, and looked at the minister, to 
know if it would not be a breach of good manners to 
dispute at such a time ; but it seemed there was nothing 
contrary to custom, as he rather expected my answer. 
I explained our system to Aga Acbar ; but there were 
many things not to be understood without diagrams ; 
so a scribe in waiting was ordered to produce his im- 
plements, and I was obliged to show him, first, the 
sections of the cone, and how a body revolves in an el- 
lipse round the sun in one focus, &c. He knew no- 
thing of mathematics, as I suspected, so it was soon 
found useless to proceed; he comprehended nothing. 

ct On my return, Jaffier Ali Khan and Mirza Seid 
Ali requested me to explain to them my proofs. ! 



348 MEMOIR OF 



the> 



did my best; but there were so many things 
were obliged to take for granted, that all my endea- 
vors were to little purpose. So much Mirza Seid Ali 
comprehended, that the hypothesis of a force varying 
inversely as the square of the distance, was sufficient 
to account for every phenomenon ; and that therefore, 
according to the rules of philosophy, a more complex 
hypothesis was not to be admitted. This he had sense 
enough to see." 

There is something so estimable in the character of 
Mr. Martyn's opponent, Mirza Ibraheem, that it will 
not fail to secure the attention of the reader, in perus- 
ing the subjoined relation of the effect produced on his 
mind by Mr. Martyn's defence of Christianity and at- 
tack upon Mohammedanism. 

Aug. 29. — " Mirza Ibraheem begins to inquire about 
the Gospel. The objections he made were such as 
these : How sins could be atoned for before they were 
committed ? Whether, as Jesus died for all men, all 
would necessarily be saved ? If faith be the condition 
of salvation, would wicked Christians be saved, pro- 
vided they believe ? I was pleased to see, from the 
nature of the objections, that he was considering the 
subject. To this last objection I remarked that to 
those who felt themselves sinners, and came to God 
for mercy, through Christ, God would give his Holy 
Spirit, which would progressively sanctify them in 
heart and life." 

Aug. 30. — " Mirza Ibraheem praises my answer, es- 
pecially the first part." 

Mr. Martyn's mind, we have had frequent occasion 



HENRY MARTY N. 349 

to notice, closed as it was against trifling vanities, was 
sver open and alive to many of those subjects which 
arrest the attention and interest the curiosity of men 
of science and research, and which form one great 
source of intellectual gratification. Whilst the moral 
depravity of Shiraz chiefly occupied his thoughts and 
excited his commiseration, he could also find a 
mournful pleasure in musing over the fallen grandeur 
}f Persepolis. 

He has left the following observations and reflec- 
tions, on visiting these celebrated remains of antiquity : 

" I procured two horsemen, as guards, from the mi- 
Lister, and set off about two hours before sunset. At a 
station of Rahdars we fed the horses, and then conti- 
nued our course, through a most dismal country, till 
midnight, when we entered a vast plain, and, two or 
three hours before day, crossed the Araxes, by a 
bridge of three arches, and, coming in sight of the 
ruins, waited for the day. I laid down upon the bare 
ground, but it was too cold to sleep. 

" When the sun rose, we entered. My guards and 
servant had not the smallest curiosity to see ruins, and 
therefore the moment they mounted the terrace they 
laid down and fell asleep. These people cannot ima- 
gine 'why the Europeans come to see these ruins. 
One of them said to me, 'A nice place, Sahib; good 
air and a fine garden; you ma}^ carry brandy, and 
drink there at leisure.' Thus he united, as he thought, 
the two ingredients of human happiness — the Euro- 
pean enjoyment of drinking, and the Persian one of 
straight walks, cypress trees, and muddy water in a 
square cistern. One of my guards was continually re- 



350 MEMOIR OF 



iha- 



m hiding me, on my way thither, that it was uninha- 
bited. Finding me still persist, he imagined that my 
object must be to do something in secret; and accord- 
ingly, after I had satisfied my curiosity, and was com- 
ing away, he plainly asked me whether I had been 
drinking — observing, perhaps, my eyes, which were 
red with cold and want of sleep. When I gravely told 
them that drunkenness was as great a sin with us as 
with them, they altered their tone, and said that wine 
was not only unlawful, but odious and filthy. 

" After traversing these celebrated ruins, I must say 
that I felt a little disappointed; they did not at all 
answer my expectation. The architecture of the an- 
cient Persians seems to be much more akin to that of 
their clumsy neighbors the Indians, than to that of the 
Greeks. I saw no appearance of grand design any 
where. The chapiters of the columns were almost as 
long as the shafts — though they are not so represent- 
ed in Niebuhr's plate ;— and the mean little passages 
into the square court, or room, or whatever it was, 
make it very evident that the taste of the Orientals 
was the same three thousand years ago as it is now. 

" But it was impossible not to recollect that here 
Alexander and his Greeks passed and repassed — here 
they sat, and sung, and revelled : now all is silence — 
generation on generation lie mingled with the dust of 
their moldering edifices : 

1 Alike the busy and the gay, 
' But flutter in life's busy day, 
' In fortune's varying colors drest.' 

" From the ruins I rode off to a neighboring village, 
the head-man of which, at the minister's order, paid 



HENRY MARTY N. 351 

me every attention. At sunset we set out on our re- 
turn, and lost our way. As I particularly remarked 
where we entered the plains, I pointed out the track 
which afterwards proved to be right ; but my opinion 
was overruled, and we galloped further and further 
away. Meeting, at last, with some villagers, who were 
passing the night at their threshing-floor in the field, 
we were set right. They then conceived so high an 
idea of my geographical skill, that, as soon as we re- 
crossed the Araxes, they begged me to point out the 
Keblah to them, as they wanted to pray. After set- 
ting their faces towards Mecca, as nearly as I could, I 
went and sat down on the margin near the bridge, 
where the water, falling over some fragments of the 
bridge under the arches, produced a roar, which, con^ 
trasted with the stillness all around, had a grand effect. 
Here I thought again of the multitudes who had once 
pursued their labors and pleasures on its banks. Twen- 
ty-one centuries have passed away since they lived: 
how short, in comparison, must be the remainder of 
my days ! What a momentary duration is the life 01 
man ! Labitar et labeiur in omne volubilis cevum* 
may be affirmed of the river; but men pass away as 
soon as they begin to exist. Well, let the moments 
pass — 

They'll waft us sooner o'er 

This life's tempestuous sea, 
And land us on the peaceful shore 

Of blest Eternity.* 

" The Mohammedans having finished their prayers. 
I mounted my horse and pursued my way over the 
*It flows, and will continue to flow for even 



352 MEMOIR OF 

plain. We arrived at the station of the Rahdars so 
early, that we should have been at Shiraz before the 
gates were opened, so we halted. I put my head into 
a poor corner of the caravansera, and slept soundly 
upon the hard stone, till the rising sun bid us continue 
our course. 

" One of my guards was a pensive, romantic sort of 
a man, as far as eastern men can be romantic ; that is, 
he is constantly reciting love- verses. He often broke 
a long silence by a sudden question of this sort : £ Sir, 
what is the chief good of life V I replied, c The love 
of God.' ' What next? 5 ' The love of man. 5 'That is,' 
said he, c to have men love us, or t-o love them V i To 
love them. 5 He did not seem to agree with me. Anoth 
er time he asked, ■ Who were the worst people in 
the world V I said, ' Those who know their duty 
and do not practice it. 5 At the house where I was en 
tertained, they asked me the question which the Lord 
once asked, c What think ye of Christ V I generally 
tell them at first, what they expect to hear, 'The Son 
of God ; 5 but this time I said, 'The same as you say> 
the Word of God. 5 'Was he a prophet? 5 ' Yes, in 
some sense, he was a prophet ; but, what it chiefly 
concerns us to know, he was an atonement for the sins 
of men. 5 Not understanding this, they made no reply. 
They next asked, ' What did I think of the soul? was 
it out of the body, or in the body ? 5 I supposed the 
latter. ' No, 5 they said, ' it is neither the one nor the 
other; but next to it, and the mover of the body.' " 

The details Mr. Martyn gives of the fast of Rama 
zan, which he witnessed on his return to Shiraz, whilst 



HENRY MARTYN. 353 

they show that he was far from being an inobservant 
spectator of what was passing around him, afford a 
striking view of the interior of Mohammedanism. We 
plainly discover from them, that a love for particular 
popular preachers, a fiery zeal in religion, a vehement 
excitation of animal feelings, as well as rigid austeri- 
ties, are false criterions of genuine piety ; for we see 
all these in their full perfection amongst the real fol- 
lowers of the Crescent, as well as amongst the pre- 
tended disciples of the Cross. 

Sept. 20. — " First day of the fast of Ramazan. All 
the family have been up in the night, to take an un- 
seasonable meal, in order to fortify themselves for the 
abstinence of the day. It was curious to observe the 
effects of the fast in the house. The master was scold- 
ing and beating his servants ; they equally peevish 
and insolent ; and the beggars more than ordinarily 
importunate and clamorous. At noon, all the city 
went to the grand mosque. My host came back with 
an account of new vexations there. He was chatting 
with a friend, near the door, when a great preacher, 
Hagi Mirza, arrived, with hundreds of followers. 
1 Why do you not say your prayers V said the new 
comers to the two friends. ' We have finished, 5 said 
they. ' Well,' said the other, ' if you cannot pray a 
second time with us, you had better move out of the 
way.' Rather than join such turbulent zealots, they 
retired. The reason of this unceremonious address 
was, that these loving disciples had a desire to pray all 
in a row with their master, which, it seems, is the cus- 
tom. There is no public service in the mosque ; every 
man there prays 'or himself. 

Marty n. 23 



354 MEMOIR OF 

"Coming out of the mosque, some servants of the 
Prince, for their amusement, pushed a person against 
a poor man's stall, on which were some things for 
sale, a few European and Indian articles, also some 
valuable Warsaw plates, which were thrown down 
and broken. The servants went off without making 
compensation. No Cazi will hear a complaint against 
the Prince's servants. 

" Hagi Mohammed Hasan preaches every day dur- 
ing the Ramazan. He takes a verse from the Koran, 
or more frequently tells stories about the Imans. If 
the ritual of the Christian churches, their good forms, 
and every thing they have, is a mere shadow, without 
the power of truth 5 what must all this Mohammedan 
stuff be? and yet how impossible is it to convince the 
people of the world, whether Christian or Mohamme- 
dan, that what they call religion, is merely a thing of 
their own, having no connexion with God and his 
kingdom. This subject has been much on my mind of 
late. How senseless the zeal of churchmen against 
dissenters, and of dissenters against the church ! The 
kingdom of God is neither meat nor drink, nor any 
thing perishable; but righteousness and peace, and 
joy in the Holy Ghost. 

"Mizra Ibraheem never goes to the mosque; but he 
is so much respected, that nothing is said : they con- 
clude that he is employed in devotion at home. Some 
of his disciples said to Seid Ali, before him, ' Now the 
Ramazan is come, you should read the Koran and 
leave the Gospel.' 'No,' said his uncle, 'he is em- 
ployed in a good work; let him go on with it.' The 
old man continues to inquire with interest about the 



HENRY MARTY If. 355 

Gospel, and is impatient for his nephew to explain 
the evidences of Christianity, which I have drawn 
up." 

Sept. 22.— Sunday. — "My friends returned from 
the mosque full of indignation at what they had wit- 
nessed there. The former governor of Bushire com- 
plained to the vizier, in the mosque, that some of his 
servants had treated him brutally. The vizier, instead 
of attending to his complaint, ordered them to do their 
work a second time; which they did, kicking and 
beating him with their slippers, in the most ignomi- 
nious way, before all the mosque. This unhappy peo- 
ple groan under the tyranny of their governors ; yet 
nothing subdues or tames them. Happy Europe ! 
how has God favored the sons of Japheth, by causing 
them to embrace the Gospel ! How dignified are all 
the nations of Europe compared with this nation ! Yet 
the people are clever and intelligent, and more calcu- 
lated to become great and powerful than any of the 
nations of the East, had they a good government and 
the Christian religion." 

Sept. 29.— "The Soofie, son of the Moojtuhid, with 
some others, came to see me. For fifteen years he was 
a devout Mohammedan, visited the sacred places, and 
said many prayers. Finding no benefit from austeri- 
ties, he threw up the Mohammedanism altogether, and 
attached himself to the Soofie master. 

" I asked him what his object was all that time ? 
He said 'he did not know, but he was unhappy.' I be- 
gan to explain to him the Gospel ; but he cavilled at 
it as much as any bigoted Mohammedan could do, and 
would not hear of there being any distinction between 



356 MEM 01 A OF 

Creator and creature. In the midst of our conversa 
tion the sun went down, and the company vanished, 
for the purpose of taking an immediate repast. 

" Aga Baba was also for many years a zealous Mo- 
hammedan, often passing whole nights in prayer. 
His father, who had at first encouraged his religious 
propensities, found them at last so troublesome, that he 
was obliged to leave the house, not being able to get 
sleep for the noise his son made in prayer. Finding, 
after many years, that he was growing more and more 
proud and contemptuous, he could ascribe it to no- 
thing but his prayers, and therefore, from purely con- 
scientious motives, left them off. 

" Jaffier Ali Khan was also once a great sayer of 
prayers, and regularly passed every afternoon, for four- 
teen years, in cursing the worshippers of Omar, accord- 
ing to the prescribed form ; but perceiving that these 
zealous maledictions brought no blessing to himself, he 
left them off, and now just prays for form's sake. His 
wife says her prayers regularly five times a day, and 
is always up before sunrise for the first prayer. 

" Mirza Seid Ali seems sometimes coming round to 
Christianity against Soofeism. The Soofies believe in 
no prophet, and do not consider Moses to be equal to 
Mirza Abulcasim. ' Could they be brought,' Seid Ali 
says, * to believe that there has been a prophet, they 
would embrace Christianity.' And what would be gain- 
ed by such converts ? ' Thy people shall be willing in 
the day of thy power.' It will be ' an afflicted and poor 
people' that shall call upon the name of the Lord, and 
such the Soofies are not : professing themselves to be 
wise, they have become fools," 



HENRY MARTYN. 35? 

Oct. 1. — " Thousands every day assemble at the 
mosque; it is quite a lounge with them. Each, as soon 
as he has said his prayers, sits down and talks to his 
friend. The multitude press to hear Hagi Mohammed 
Hasan. One day they thronged him so much that he 
made some error in his prostrations. This put him into 
such a passion, that he wished that Omar's curse might 
come upon him if he preached to them again. How- 
ever, a day or two after, he thought better of it. This 
preacher is famous for letting out his money for inte- 
rest ; and therefore, in spite of his eloquence, he is not 
very popular. About two years ago, Shekh Jaffier came 
here and preached — l The Persians are all murderers ! 
adulterers !' — ( What does the Shekh mean V said his 
followers. £ Why, 5 said he, ; the Persians take usury ; 
and he that does that, is worse than a murderer or 
adulterer. 5 " 

Oct. 7. — " I was surprised by a visit from the great 
Soofie doctor, who, while most of the people were 
asleep, came to me for some wine. I plied him with 
questions innumerable ; but he returned nothing but 
incoherent answers, and sometimes no answer at all. 
Having laid aside his turban, he put on his night-cap, 
and soon fell asleep upon the carpet. Whilst he lay 
there his disciples came, but would not believe, when 
I told them who was there, till they came and saw the 
sage asleep. When he awoke, they came in, and seat- 
ed themselves at the greatest possible distance, and 
were all as still as if in a church. 

" The real state of this man seems to be despair, and 
it is well if it do not end in madness. I preached to 
him the kingdom of God : mentioning particularly 



358 memoir or 

how I had found peace from the Son of God and the 
Spirit of God : through the first, forgiveness ; through 
the second, sanctification. He said it was good, but 
said it with the same unconcern with which he admits 
all manner of things, however contradictory. Poor 
soul ! he is sadly bewildered. 

" At a garden, called Shah Chiragh, in which is the 
tomb of the brother of one of the Imans, who was kill- 
ed on the spot, a miracle is wrought every Ramazan. 
The Mootuwulli, or proprietor of the garden, in whose 
family it has been for ages, finds its supposed sanctity 
abundantly profitable, as he is said to make two thou- 
sand pounds a-year of it. To keep alive the zeal of the 
people, who make their offerings there every day, he 
procures a villager, who is at first sick, and crying to 
Ali for help ; and then, on the appointed day, recovers. 
This year a man was recovered of the pals)', and om 
servants came in quite full of it. Though this farce is 
played off every year, the simpletons are never unde- 
ceived. Presents of sheep, fowls, sweetmeats, money, 
flowed in upon the Mootuwulli, who skillfully turned 
all to the best advantage. Those who wished to see the 
man's face, were to pay so much ; those who were 
anxious to touch him, were to pay so much more ; 
and so on. 

" On two days in the Ramazan, tragedies were acted 
at our house, in the women's court. Two or three men, 
dressed in the Khan's court robes, spouted and sung 
for an hour, before an immense concourse of women, 
all veiled. The subject, on the first day, was the death 
of Mohammed ; on the second, that of Iman Hosyn." 

Oct. 18. — " The Ramazan ended, or ought tc have 



HENRY MARTY N. 359 

ended, but the moon disappointed them. The Moollahs 
not having seen the new moon, would not allow the 
fast to be over, and the people were, in consequence, 
all in confusion j for not having eaten in the night, 
they were not at all disposed to go through the day 
fasting. At last some witnesses appeared, who vowed 
that they had seen the silver bow. These were from 
the Prince ; but the Moollahs refused to admit them 
till seventy-two of the same kind bore the same testi- 
mony. This was no great number for a prince to pro- 
duce ; so the seventy-two appeared, and the feast was 
proclaimed." 

Towards the end of November, great progress hav- 
ing been made in the Persian translation of the New 
Testament, Mr. Martyn ordered two splendid copies 
of it to be prepared, designing to present the one to 
the King of Persia, and the other to the Prince Abbas 
Mirza, his son. It being now also his fixed intention 
to pass the winter at Shiraz, he resolved to commence 
another eminently useful, and, to him, most delightful 
work — a version of the Psalms of David into Persian, 
from the original Hebrew. The divine Songs of Zion 
became thus the subject of his critical examination, 
close meditation, and frequent prayer ; and whilst en- 
gaged in this sacred employment, often did he find 
his soul elevated and his spirit refreshed in a " strange 
land." 

The events of the last month of the year stand thus 
recorded in his Journal: 

Dec. 3.— " Attended the lecture of Aga Mohammed 
Hasan. He read and commented on three books of 



560 MEMOIR OF 

metaphysics, and at intervals conversed with me, 
Among other things, we discussed the cause of the as- 
cent of a light body in a fluid. Our argument came at 
last to this — that if one particle of fluid were on ano- 
ther, it would, from its gravity, move ever horizontally 
off, in order to be nearer the centre. * If,' said he, 4 a 
body can move toward the centre only directly, how 
do you account for its falling down an inclined plane?' 
I began to explain the composition and resolution ol 
forces ; but some disciples coming, he could not stay 
to hear what I had to say, but went on with his lec- 
ture. At one time he asked me some questions about 
genera and species." 

Dec. 6. — " Aga Boozorg and his disciple, Aga Ali, a 
Mede, came and sat many hours. The former, from 
love to the Gospel, as he said, had desired a friend at 
Isfahan to send him Luke's Gospel, translated from 
the Arabic. He asked me about the Trinity, and said 
that, ' for himself, he had no objection to the doctrine.' 
So say all thr Soofies, but they will only concede to 
Jesus a nature which they conceive to belong to all 
the prophets, and all the illuminated. He stated his 
sentiments; I asked for reasons, but asked in vain. 
1 Proofs,' he said, c were cobwebs — a breath destroyed 
them : nothing but a divine teacher could make known 
the mystery.' Aga Ali, in order to prove to me that 
proofs were nothing, adduced the instance of Matthew 
the publican, who rose at the call of Christ, without 
seeing a miracle. They are fond of producing what 
they know of the Gospel, in confirmation of their mys- 
tic themes. The atonement they would not hear of, 
because the Mohammedans pretended, in the same 



HENRY MARTY N. 361 

way, that Hosyn was sacrificed for the sins of men. 
Thus Satan has contrived Mohammedanism with more 
craft than at first appears ; for the impostor of Mecca, 
by making common cause with the prophets of God, 
has taken care, that if any forsake him, they shall at 
the same time forsake the messengers of God ; of whom 
they know nothing but just what he tells them — which 
is far enough from the truth." 

Dec. 8. — " The Soofies breakfasted with me. Aga 
Boozorg talked dogmatically about the unity of all 
being, and quoted large portions from the Munari of 
Mouluwee Room. Another part of the conversation 
was about India. The Soofies consider all the Brah- 
mins as philosophers of the same school with them- 
selves. One of them asked me gravely, c whether I had 
met with any in whom was the Holy Ghost?' This, 
he supposed, was the only way of expressing what 
they meant by being enlightened." 

Dec. 12. — " Letters, at last, from India. Mirza Seid 
Ali was curious to know in what way we correspond- 
ed, and made me read Mr. Brown's letter to me, and 
mine to Corrie. He took care to let his friends know 
that we wrote nothing about our own affairs : it was 
all about translations, and the cause of Christ : with 
this he was delighted." 

Dec. 16.— "In translating 2 Cor. 1 : 22, ' Who hath 
given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts,' he was 
much struck when it was explained to him. c O that I 
had it,' said he ; ' have you received it ?' I told him that 
as I had no doubt of my acceptance through Christ, I 
concluded that I had. Once before, on the words 
4 Who are saved,' he expressed his surprise at the con* 



362 MEM OIK OF 

fidence with which Christians spoke of salvation. On 
1 Cor. 11, he observed that the doctrine of the resur- 
rection of the body was unreasonable ; but that as the 
Mohammedans understood it, it was impossible ; on 
which account the Soofies rejected it." 

Christmas-day. — " I made a great feast for the Rus- 
sians and Armenians ; and, at Jafiier Ali Khan's re- 
quest, invited the Soofie master, with his disciples. I 
hoped there would be some conversation on the occa- 
sion of our meeting, and indeed Mirza Seid Ali did 
make some attempts, and explained to the old man the 
meaning of the Lord's supper ; but the sage maintain- 
ing his usual silence, the subject was dropped. 

" I expressed my satisfaction at seeing them assem- 
bled on such an occasion, and my hope that they 
would remember the day in succeeding years ; and 
that, though they would never see me again in the 
succeeding years, they would not forget that I had 
brought them the Gospel. The old man coldly replied 
that l God would guide those whom he chose.' Most of 
the time they continued was before dinner; the mo- 
ment that was despatched, they rose up and went 
away, The custom is, to sit five or six hours before 
dinner ; and at great men's houses singers attend." 

Dec. 27. — " Carapet invited me this evening to his 
wedding; but, just before the guests were to have as- 
sembled, the Darogha's servants seized his father-in- 
law and carried him away to be bastinadoed, or else 
to pay five hundred piasters. It seems he had given a 
bond to that amount, never to sell wine to Mohamme- 
dans; and yesterday he was detected in the act. Jaf 
fter Ali Khan wrote, in my name, to the Vizier, to re 



HENRY MAKTYN. 38.'* 

quest his release. The Vizier replied that Carapet, for 
my sake, should not be molested ; but that the other 
man had forfeited his money, and, in evidence, sent 
his bond. Finding that it was not a piece of villany on 
the part of the government, as I had apprehended, I 
declined having any thing to do in the business- the 
law might take its course. But Jaffier Ali Khan beg- 
ged as a favor, of the servant of the Vizier, who had 
formerly been a servant of his, to represent the mat- 
ter in such a light to his master as to excite his com- 
passion. After he was gone away, the Armenians came 
in great numbers, and begged I would procure the 
pardon of the poor man ; and had obtained a promise 
from me to this effect ; when the servant came back 
with the poor Greek, and said that the Vizier had re- 
leased him, and forgiven him the forfeit, for my sake. 
The Armenians were in ecstacies of joy, and did not 
know how enough to express their gratitude to me, 
though it was rather due to Jafiier Ali Khan. I was 
unable to attend the wedding, from a cough, which 
made it unsafe to be out at night. They sat up all 
night, according to the Armenian custom, eating and 
drinking ; and about two hours before day, went to 
church, where the marriage was solemnized. The 
feasting continues two days longer. 

" On the strength of the narrow escape the Greek 
had experienced, some of the Vizier's servants came, 
the day after, to feast themselves at his expense. They 
first called for a calean, which was brought them ; then 
for the wine he had promised them, though he had 
promised none. This unfortunate people have been 
visited almost like the Jews. When will the Lord pity 



304 MEMOIR OF 

them ? An Armenian, if he gets a new coat, makes 
the sleeves of patches, as he will be sure to have it 
taken from him if it looks new. Carapet was insulted 
for being a little better dressed than they thought a 
Christian ought to be." 

Dec. 31. — "The accounts of the desolations of war 
during the last year, which I have been reading in 
some Indian newspapers, make the world appear more 
gloomy than ever. How many souls hurried into 
eternity unprepared ! How many thousands of widows 
and orphans left to mourn ! But admire, my soul, the 
matchless power of God, that out of this ruin he has 
prepared for himself an inheritance. At last the scene 
shall change, and I shall find myself in a world where 
all is love." 

The early part of the year 1812. that year in which 
Mr. Martyn " rested from his labors," and " found 
himself in a world where all was love," was ushered 
in by him in the following strain of singular pathos 
and piety : 

"The last has been, in some respects, a memorable 
year. I have been led, by what I have reason to con- 
sider as the particular providence of God, to this place, 
and have undertaken an important work, Avhich has 
gone on without material interruption, and is now 
nearly finished. I like to find myself employed use- 
fully, in a way I did not expect or foresee, especially 
if my own will is in any degree crossed by the work 
unexpectedly assigned me ; as there is then reason to 
believe that God is acting. The present year will pro- 
bably be a perilous one ; but my life is of little conse 






HENRY MARTY N. 365 

quence, whether I live to finish the Persian New 
Testament, or do not. I look back with pity and shame 
upon my former self, and on the importance I then 
attached to my life and labors. The more I see of my 
own works, the more I am ashamed of them. Coarse- 
ness and clumsiness mar all the works of man. I am 
sick, when I look at man, and his wisdom, and his 
doings ; and am relieved only by reflecting that we 
have a city whose builder and maker is God. The 
least of His works it is refreshing to look at. A dried 
leaf, or a straw, makes me feel myself in good compa- 
ny : complacency and admiration take place of disgust 
"I compared, with pain, our Persian translation 
with the original ; to say nothing of the precision and 
elegance of the sacred text, its perspicuity is thai 
which sets at defiance all attempts to equal it." 

In the succeeding portion of Mr. Martyn's Journal; 
we are presented with a statement, from which it is 
scarcely possible not to infer that the civil government 
of Persia is in a condition of extreme weakness and 
wretchedness. 

Jan. 15. — " I went with Jaffier Ali Khan to see the 
College. It is almost in ruins, not having been repair- 
ed these two hundred years. It contains sixty or 
seventy sets of rooms, in many of which we observed 
teachers and scholars giving and hearing lectures. It 
was formerly richly endowed ; but the rapacity of the 
kings has stripped it of every thing; only a small sti- 
pend is now allowed to the principal teachers. Near it 
is an octagonal caravansera, where goods were for- 
merly exposed to sale, and a tax levied, which was ap- 



8fi6 MEMOIR OP 

propriated to the College; but this is nearly gons. 
The best way of laying out money at this time is to 
build a caravansera, for merchants to lodge their 
goods in, and expose them to sale. In this way they 
make about fifteen per cent. ; but these warehouses are 
heavily taxed by government. 

" We called on several people ; among the rest, on 
Mirza Abulcasim Kalantar, a man of large landed pro- 
perty, who was very courteous. Conversation, as usual, 
about the happiness of India and England. 

" We called on Aga Boozorg, an old man of ninety, 
whose house, or rather college, is a kind of asylum : 
for he is so venerated, that even the Vizier dare not 
drag an offender thence. A poor ragged fellow came 
while we were there, and said that the Vizier had sent 
him. ' Go and tell the Vizier,' said he, ' to knock his 
head against the pavement, and not send such messen 
gers to me.' 

" A poor blind man whom we met begging, the Khan 
pointed out to me, as one who formerly was a general, 
and one of Kureen Khan's family ; but, by a change 
of dynasty, he had lost his eyes. Nobody took any notice 
of him." 

Who can read some of the ensuing remarks without 
discovering how abundantly those words of our Savioi 
were verified in Mr. Martyn ? " neither pray I for these 
alone, but for them also which shall believe on me 
through their word : that they all may be one, as thou, 
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be 
one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast 
sent me." John, 17 : 20, 21. 



HENHY MART\N. 367 

Jan. 16. — " Mirza Seid Ali told me accidentally, to- 
day, of a distich made by his friend Mirza Koochut, at 
Teheran, in honor of a victory obtained by Prince Ab 
bas Mirza over the Russians. The sentiment was, that 
he had killed so many of the Christians, that Christ, 
from the fourth heaven, took hold of Mohammed's 
skirt to entreat him to desist. I was cut to the soul at 
this blasphemy. In prayer I could think of nothing 
else but that great day, when the Son of God shall 
come in the clouds of heaven, taking vengeance on 
them that know not God, and convincing men of all 
their hard speeches which they have spoken against 
him. 

" Mirza Seid Ali perceived that I was considerably 
disordered, and was sorry for having repeated the 
verse ; but asked what it was that was so offensive ? I 
told him that ' I could not endure existence if Jesus 
was not glorified ; it would be hell to me, if he were to 
be always thus dishonored.' He was astonished, and 
again asked, why ? ' If any one pluck out your eyes,' 
I replied, ' there is no saying why you feel pain — it is 
feeling. It is because I am one with Christ that I am 
thus dreadfully wounded." On his again apologizing, 
I told him that ' I rejoiced at what had happened, in- 
asmuch as it made me feel nearer the Lord than ever. 
It is when the head or heart is struck, that every mem- 
ber feels its membership.' This conversation took place 
while we were translating. In the evening, he men- 
tioned the circumstance of a young man's being mur- 
dered, a fine athletic youth, whom I had often seen in 
the garden. Some acquaintance of his, in a slight quar- 
rel, had plunged a dagger in his breast. Observing me 



rfb» . MEMOIR OF 

look sorrowful, he asked why. ' Because, 5 said I, 'he 
was cut off in his sins, and had no time to repent. 5 ' It 
is just in that way, 5 said he, ' that I should like to die ; 
not dragging out a miserable existence on a sick bed, 
but transported at once into another state. 5 I observed 
that ' It was not desirable to be hurried into the imme- 
diate presence of God. 5 — ' Do you think, 5 said he, ' that 
there is any difference between the presence of God 
here or there? 5 — 'Indeed, I do, 5 said I. 'Here we see 
through a glass, darkly ; but there, face to face.' He 
then entered into some metaphysical Soofie disputa- 
tion about the identity of sin and holiness, heaven and 
hell ; to all which I made no reply. 55 

The subjoined conversation, into which Mr. Martyn 
was led, exhibits the ignorance of the natural man, 
and the knowledge of the spiritual man, in striking 
contrast. 

Jan. 18. — '" Aga Ali, of Media, came, and with him 
and Mirza Ali I had a long and warm discussion about 
the essentials of Christianity. The Mede seeing us at 
work upon the Epistles, said ' he should be glad to 
read them ; as for the Gospels, they were nothing but 
tales, which were of no use to him ; for instance, 5 said 
he, ' if Christ raised four hundred dead to life, what is 
that to me V I said, ' It certainly was of importance, 
for his works were a reason for our depending upon 
his words. 5 'What did he say, 5 asked he, 'that was 
not known before? the love of God — humility; who 
does not know these things? 5 'Were these things, 5 
said I, ' known before Christ, either among Greeks or 
Romans, with all their philosophy? 5 They averred 
that the Hindoo book Juh contained precepts of thin 



HENRY MARTY H. 369 

kind. 1 questioned its antiquity ; ' but, however that 
may be,' I added, ' Christ came not to teach, so much 
as to die ; the truths I spoke of, as confirmed by his 
miracles, were those relating to his person ; such as, 
' Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, 
and I will give you rest. 5 Here Mirza Seid Ali told 
him that I had professed to have no doubt of my sal- 
vation. He asked what I meant ? I told him ' that 
though sin still remained, I was assured that it should 
not regain dominion 5 and that I should never come into 
condemnation, but was accepted in the beloved.' Not 
a little surprised, he asked Mirza Seid Ali whether 
he comprehended this ? ' No,' said he, c nor Mirza 
Ibraheem, to whom I mentioned it.' The Mede again 
turning to me, asked, l how do you know this 1 
how do you know you have experienced the second 
birth ?' ( Because,' said I, ' we have the Spirit of the 
Father ; what he wishes, we wish ; what he hates, 
we hate.' Here he began to be a little more calm 
and less contentious, and mildly asked how I had 
obtained this peace of mind ; ' was it merely those 
books?' said he, taking up some of our sheets. 
I told him, 'These books, with prayer. 5 'What was 
the beginning of it,' said he ; ' the society of some 
friends ? ' I related to him my religious history, the 
substance of which was, that I took my Bible before 
God, in prayer, and prayed for forgiveness through 
Christ, assurance of it through his Spirit, and grace 
to obey his commandments. They then both asked 
whether the same benefit would be conferred on them ? 
1 Yes,' I replied, ' I bring you this message from God, 
that he who, despairing of himself, rests for righteous- 

Mnrtyn. 24 



370 MEMOIR OF 






ness on the Son of God, shall receive the gift of the 
Holy Ghost ; and to this I can add my testimony, ii 
that be worth any thing, that I have found the promise 
fulfilled in myself. ' What ! would you have me be- 
lieve,' said he, ' as a child V ( Yes, 5 said I. ; True,' 
said he, £ I think that is the only way. 5 Aga Ali said 
no more, but c Certainly he is a good man ! 5 " 

Shortly after this discussion, Mr. Martyn states him- 
self to have attended a public exhibition of a religious 
kind. The reason why he did not repeat his atten- 
dance, whether well grounded or not, is at least a 
proof that patriotic feelings in his mind were not ex- 
tinguished by Christianity. 

Jan. 23. — " Put on my English dress, and went to 
the Vizier's to see part of the tragedy of Hosyn 5 s death, 
which they contrive to spin out so as to make it last 
the first ten days of the Mohurrin. All the apparatus 
consisted of a few boards for a stage, two tables, and a 
pulpit, under an immense awning, in the court where 
the company were assembled. The dramatis personce 
were two j the daughter of Hosyn, whose part was 
performed by a boy, and a messenger ; they both read 
their parts. Every now and then loud sobs were 
heard all over the court. After this, several feats of 
activity were exhibited before the altar, where the Vi- 
zier sat with the Moollahs. I was appointed to a seat, 
where, indeed, I saw as much as I wanted, but which, 
I afterwards perceived, was not the place of honor. 
As I trust I am far enough from desiring the chief 
seats in the synagogues, there was nothing in this that 
could offend me ; but I do not think it right to let him 
have another opportunity of showing a slight to my 
country in my person. 57 



HENRY MARTYN. 371 

Those who know not what it is to pass a dreary sea- 
son of long seclusion from Christian society, sur- 
rounded by those who are immersed in all wicked- 
ness, can form but an inadequate idea of the sacrifices 
to which Mr. Martyn submitted, in continuing so great 
a length of time at Shiraz : yet we may in some mea- 
sure see what he endured, from the expression of sen- 
timents such as these : 

Feb. 2. — " From what I suffer in this city, I can un- 
derstand the feelings of Lot. The face of the poor 
Russian appears to me like the face of an angel, be- 
cause he does not tell lies. Heaven will be heaven, be- 
cause there will not be one liar there. The word of 
God is more precious to me at this time than I ever re- 
member it to have been ; and of all the promises in it, 
none is more sweet to me than this — 'He shall reign 
till he hath put all enemies under his feet." 5 

Feb. 3. — "A packet arrived from India without a 
single letter for me. It was some disappointment to 
me; but let me be satisfied with my God, and if I 
cannot have the comfort of hearing from my friends, 
let me return with thankfulness to his word, which is 
a treasure of which none envy me the possession, and 
where I can find what will more than compensate for 
the loss of earthly enjoyments. Resignation to the will 
of God is a lesson which I must learn, and which I 
trust he is teaching me." 

What an influence a departure from the precepts of 
the Gospel has upon the determination of the judg- 
ment with respect to its doctrines, appears from the 
representation Mr. Martyn gives of the conduct of 
Mirza Seid Ali at this period. 



372 MEMOIR OF 

Feb. 4. — " Mirza Seid Ali, who has been enjoying 
himself in dissipation and idleness these two days, re- 
turned full of evil and opposition to the Gospel. 

"Alluding to some remarks he had made, 'I sup- 
pose, 5 said he, £ you think it is sinful to sport with the 
characters of holy men.' 'I have no objection,' I re- 
plied, ' to hear your sentiments ; but I cannot bear to 
hear any thing spoken disrespectfully of the Lord Je- 
sus; and yet there is not one of your Soofies but has 
said something against him.' * You never heard me 
speak lightly of Jesus,' he replied. ; No, there is some- 
thing so awfully pure about him, that nothing can be 
said.' " 

" Recovering somewhat of a more serious spirit, 
Seid Ali joined with Aga Boozorg, whom Mr. Martyn 
describes as one of the most magisterial of the Soofies, 
in a conversation in which a real desire for religious 
information seems to have been indicated. The day on 
which it took place was almost entirely consumed in 
discussions with a variety of visitors, respecting the 
Scriptures; it concluded with a very pleasing confes- 
sion on the part of Seid Ali. 

Feb. 9. — " Aga Boozorg came. After much conver- 
sation, he said, c Prove to me, from the beginning, that 
Christianity is the way : how will you proceed 1 what 
do you say must be done ?' "If you would not believe 
a person who wrought a miracle before you,' said I, 
1 1 have nothing to say ; I cannot proceed a step.' ( I 
will grant you,' said Seid Ali, ' that Christ was the 
Son of God, and more than that.' ; That you despair 
of yourself, and are willing to trust in him alone for 
salvation V i Yes.' l And are ready to confess Christ 



HENRY MARTY*. 37$ 

before men, and act conformably to his word V ' Yes : 
what else must I do V ' Be baptized in the name of 
Christ.' 'And what shall I gain?' ' The gift of the 
Holy Ghost. The end of faith is salvation in the world 
co come ; but even here you shall have the Spirit to 
purify your heart, and to give you the assurance of 
everlasting happiness.' Thus Aga Boozorg had the op- 
portunity of hearing those strange things from my 
own mouth, of which he had been told by his disciple 
the Mede. ' You can say, too, 5 said he, c that you have 
received the Spirit V I told them I believed I had ; 
1 for, notwithstanding all my sins, the bent of my 
heart was to God, in a way it never was before ; and 
that, according to my present feelings, I could not be 
happy if God was not glorified, and if I had not the 
enjoyment of his presence, for which I felt that I was 
now educating. 5 Aga Boozorg shed tears. 

" A Russian officer coming in at the time, the sub- 
ject of religion was dropped, except that, while speak- 
ing of the convicts of Calcutta whom I had seen at the 
gaol, Mirza Seid Ali asked me how I addressed them ? 
I told him that I cautioned them against despair, as- 
sured them that they might come at the eleventh hour; 
that it was never too late for mercy, if they came to 
God through Christ. 

" After this came Aga Ali, the Mede, to hear, as he 
said, some of the sentences of Paul. Mirza Seid Ali 
had told them, ' that if they had read nothing but the 
Gospels, they knew nothing of the religion of Christ.' 
The sheet I happened to have by me was the one con^ 
taining the fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters of the se- 



374 MEMOIR OF 

corid Epistle to the Corinthians, which Aga Ali 
read out. 

" At this time the company had increased conside- 
rably. I desired Aga Ali to notice particularly the 
latter part of the fifth chapter, ( God was in Christ, re- 
conciling the world unto himself.' He then read it a 
second time, bm they saw not its glory ; however, they 
spoke in high terms of the pith and solidity of Paul's 
sentences. 

" They were evidently on the watch for any thing 
that tallied with their own sentiments. Upon the pas- 
sage — 'Always bearing about in the body the dying of 
the Lord Jesus, 5 the Mede observed, ' Do you not see 
that Jesus was in Paul, and that Paul was only another 
name for Jesus V And the text, ( Whether we be beside 
ourselves, it is to God ; and whether we be sober, it is 
for your sakes,' they interpreted thus : ' We are ab- 
sorbed in the contemplation of God; and when we 
recover, it is to instruct you.' 

" Walking afterwards with Mirza Seid Ali, he told 
me how much one of my remarks had affected him, 
namely, that he had no humility. He had been talking 
about simplicity and humility, as characteristic of the 
Soofies. ' Humility I' I said to him ; ' if you were hum- 
ble, you would not dispute in this manner 5 you would 
be like a child.' He did not open his mouth after- 
wards, but to say, 'True; I have no humility.' In 
evident distress, he observed, i The truth is, we are in 
a state of compound ignorance ; ignorant, yet igno- 
rant of our ignorance.' " 

On the last birth-day Mr. Martyn lived to commemo- 



HENRY MARTYN 375 

rate, we find him speaking in affecting terms with re- 
spect to his privations as a missionary, yet expressing 
himself with ardent and humble gratitude as a believer 
in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Feb. 8. — " While walking in the garden, in some 
disorder from vexation, two Mussulmen Jews came up, 
and asked me what would become of them in another 
world? The Mohammedans were right in their way, 
they supposed, and we in ours ; but what must they 
expect ? After rectifying their mistake as to the Mo- 
hammedans, I mentioned two or three reasons for be- 
lieving that we are right: such as their dispersion, and 
the cessation of sacrifices, immediately on the appear- 
ance of Jesus. ' True, true, 5 they said, with great feel- 
ing and seriousness ; indeed, they seemed disposed to 
yield assent to any thing I said. They confessed they 
had become Mohammedans only on compulsion : and 
that Abdoolghunee wished to go to Bagdad, thinking he 
might throw off the mask there with safety ; but asked 
what I thought? I said that the governor was a Mo- 
hammedan. ' Did I think Syria safer V c The safest 
place in the east,' I said, ' was India. 5 Feelings of pity 
for God 5 s ancient people, and having the awful impor- 
tance of eternal things impressed on my mind by the 
seriousness of their inquiries as to what would become 
of them, relieved me from the pressure of my com- 
paratively insignificant distresses. I, a poor Gentile, 
blest, honored, and loved; secured for ever by the 
everlasting covenant, whilst the children of the king- 
dom are still lying in outward darkness ! Well does it 
become me to be thankful. 

"This is my birth-day, on which I complete my 



376 MEMOIR OF 

thirty -first year. The Persian New Testament has been 
begun, and I may say, finished in it, as only the last 
eight chapters of the Revelation remain. Such a pain- 
ful year I never passed ; owing to the privations to which 
I have been called, on the one hand, and the spectacle 
before me of human depravity on the other. But I 
hope that I have not come to this seat of Satan in vain. 
The word of God has found its way into Persia, and 
it is not in Satan's power to oppose its progress, if the 
Lord hath sent it." 

The effect upon the natural conscience of a plain and 
solemn declaration of the awful truths of Scripture, 
may be seen in the case of one of Mr. Martyn's visit- 
ors, who to great libertinism of practice added extreme 
latitudinarianism of principle. 

February 23. — " Aga Neeser came, and talked most 
captiously and irrelevantly against all revealed reli- 
gion. Three years ago he had thrown off the shackles 
of Mohammed, and advised me to do the same with 
my yoke. I told him that I preferred my yoke to his 
freedom. He was for sending me naked into a wilder- 
ness ; but I would rather be a child under the restraints 
of a parent, who would provide me with food and 
clothing, and be my protector and guide. To^ every 
thing I said he had but one answer. £ God is the sole 
agent ; sin and holiness, happiness and misery, cause 
and effect, are all perfectly one.' Finding him deter- 
mined to amuse himself in this way, I said, ' These 
things will do very well for the present, while reclin- 
ing in gardens and smoking caleans ; but not for a 
dying hour. How many years of life remain ? Yon 



KENRY MARTYN. 377 

are about thirty, perhaps thirty more remain. How 
swiftly have the last thirty passed ! how soon will the 
next thirty be gone ! and then we shall see. If you 
are right, I lose nothing ; if I am right, you lose your 
soul. Leaving out the consideration of all religion, it 
is probable that the next world may be akin to this, 
and our relation to both not dissimilar. But here we 
see that childhood is a preparation for manhood, and 
that neglect of the proper employments of childhood 
entails misery in riper years.' The thought of death, 
and of separation from his pleasures, made him seri- 
ous ; or perhaps he thought it useless to press me with 
any one of his dogmas." 

On the 24th of February, 1812, the last sheet of the 
Persian New Testament was completed. "I have many 
mercies, 55 said the author of this great work, on bring- 
ing it to a termination, " for which to thank the Lord, 
and this is not the least. Now may that Spirit who 
gave the word, and called me, I trust, to be an inter- 
preter of it, graciously and powerfully apply it to the 
hearts of sinners, even to the gathering an elect peo- 
ple from among the long-estranged Persians ! 55 

The version of the Psalms in Persian, " a sweet em- 
ployment, 55 as Mr. Martyn terms it, and which, to use 
his own language, " caused six weary moons, that 
waxed and waned since its commencement, to pass 
unnoticed, 55 was finished by the middle of the month 
of March. 

Mr. Martyn had now been resident for the space of 
ten months at Shiraz, during the whole of which time 
he had been almost incessantly engaged, as we have 



378 MEMOIR OF 

seen, in endeavoring to reclaim the wretched race oi 
infidels around him from the error of their ways. So 
far was he from shrinking from any fair opportunity 
of confessing Christ before men, that he gladly em- 
braced and boldly sought out every occasion of avow- 
ing " whose he was, and whom he served." Nor was 
this conduct in him the fruit of a contentious spirit; 
it was the genuine offspring of that heavenly charity, 
which u rejoicing in the truth," is ever ready " to con- 
tend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the 
saints." No one could have a more deep-rooted an- 
tipathy to controversy, at all times, and with all per- 
sons, than Mr. Marty n : a paramount regard to what 
was indispensably due to the cause of his Redeemer 
alone could induce him to engage in it. 

One public argument he had already held with the 
chief professor of Mohammedan law ; a second dispu- 
tation, of a similar, but far more decided character, he 
was led to enter into, at this time, with Mirza Ibra- 
heem. The scene of this discussion was a court in the 
palace of one of the Persian princes, where a nume- 
rous body of Moollahs were collected, with Mirza Ibra- 
heem at their head. In this assembly Mr. Martyn 
stood up as the single advocate of the Christian faith. 
Fearing God, like Micaiah the son of Imlah, he feared 
not man. In the midst, therefore, of a Mohammedan 
conclave, he proclaimed and maintained that prime 
and fundamental article of true religion, the divinity 
of the Son of God. 

"On the 23d," Mr. Martyn writes, "I called on the 
Vizier, and afterwards on the secretary of the Ker- 
rnaushah prince. In the court where he received me, 



HENRY MARTYN. SftB 

Mirza Ibraheem was lecturing. Finding myself so 
near my old and respectable antagonist, I expressed a 
wish to see him ; on which Jaffier Ali Khan went up 
to ascertain if my visit would be agreeable. The mas- 
ter consented, but some of the disciples demurred. At 
last one of them observing, that, 'by the blessing of 
God on the master's conversation, I might possibly be 
converted,' it was agreed that I should be invited to 
ascend. Then it became a question where I ought to 
sit. Below all, would not be respectful to a stranger ; 
but above all the Moollahs, could not be tolerated. I 
entered, and was surprised at the numbers. The room 
was lined with Moollahs, on both sides, and at the top. 
I was about to sit down at the door, but I was beck- 
oned to an empty place near the top, opposite to the 
master, who, after the usual compliments, without fur- 
ther ceremony, asked me, 'what w T e meant by calling 
Christ, God V War being thus unequivocally declar- 
ed, I had nothing to do but to stand upon the defen- 
sive. Mirza Ibraheem argued temperately enough, but 
of the rest, some were very violent and clamorous. 
The former asked, 'if Christ had ever called himself 
God ; was he the Creator or a creature ?' I replied, 
* The Creator.' The Moollahs looked at one another. 
Such a confession had never before been heard among 
these Mohammedan doctors. 

"One Moollah wanted to controvert some of my 
illustrations, by interrogating me about the personality 
of Christ. To all his questions I replied by requesting 
the same information respecting his own person. 

"To another, who was rather contemptuous and 
violent, I said, ' If you do not approve of our doctrine, 



380 MEMOIR OF 



►rding 



will you be so good as to say what God is, according 
to you, that I may worship a proper object?' One said, 
'The Author of the universe.' 'I can form no idea 
from these words,' said I, ' but of a workman at work 
upon a vast number of materials. Is that a correct no- 
tion?' Another said, 'One who came of himself into 
being.' ' So then he came,' I replied ; ' he came out 
of one place into another ; and before he came, he wa9 
not. Is this an abstract and refined notion?' After this 
no one asked me any more questions ; and for fear the 
dispute should be renewed, Jaflier Ali Khan carried 
me away." 

After making this intrepid and memorable confes- 
sion of the divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus 
Christ, in which he might be described as — 

c Faithful found 
* Among the faithless ; faithful only he : 
Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified, 
His loyalty he kept, his zeal, his love.' 

Mr. Martyn continued only a short time at Shiraz. 
From his own hand we have this brief account of that 
interesting period which immediately preceded his de- 
parture. 

" Mirza Seid Ali never now argues against the truth, 
nor makes any remarks but of a serious kind. He 
speaks of his dislike to some of the Soofies, on account 
of their falsehood and drunken habits. This approach 
to the love of morality is the best sign of a change for 
the better which I have yet seen in him. As often as 
he produces the New Testament, which he always 



HENiiY MARTYIf. 38 J 

does when any of his friends come, his brother and 
cousin ridicule him ; but he tells them that, supposing 
no other benefit to have been derived, it is certainly 
something better to have gained all this information 
about the religion of Christians, than to have loitered 
away the year in the garden." 

April 27.— " Four Moollahs of Mirza Ibraheem's 
school came to dispute against European philosophy 
and European religion. 

" Mirza Seid Ali requested, at Mirza Ibraheem's de- 
sire, to know where we got our notions concerning 
the Holy Spirit? He, for his part, did not remember 
any passage in the New Testament which bore upon 
the subject. I referred them to the second chapter of 
the first Epistle to the Corinthians." 

May 10. — " Passed some days at Jaffier Ali Khan's 
garden, with Mirza Seid Ali, Aga Baba, and Shekh 
Abulhasan, reading, at their request, the Old Testa- 
ment histories. Their attention to the word, and their 
love and attention to me, seemed to increase as the 
time of my departure approached. 

"Aga Baba, who had been reading St. Matthew, re- 
lated very circumstantially to the company, the parti- 
culars of the death of Christ. The bed of roses on 
which we sat, and the notes of the nightingales warb- 
ling around us, were not so sweet to me as this dis- 
course from the Persian. 

" Telling Mirza Seid Ali one day that I wished to 
return to the city in the evening, to be alone, and at 
leisure for prayer — he said with seriousness, ' though 
a man had no other religious society, I suppose he 
may, with the aid of the Bible, live alone with God i* 



382 MEMOIR OF 

This solitude will, in one respect, be his own state 
soon. May he find it the medium of God's gracious 
communications to his soul ! He asked in what way 
God ought to be addressed. I told him, as a father, 
with respectful love ; and added some other exhorta- 
tions on the subject of prayer." 

May 11. — "Aga Baba came to bid me farewell, 
which he did in the best and most solemn way, by 
asking, as a final question, whether, independently of 
external evidences, I had any internal proofs of the 
doctrine of Christ?' I answered, 'Yes, undoubtedly: 
the change from what I once was, is a sufficient evi- 
dence to me.' At last he took his leave, in great sor- 
row, and, what is better, apparently in great solicitude 
about his soul. 

" The rest of the day I continued with Mirza Seid 
Ali, giving him instructions what to do with the New 
Testament, in case of my decease, and exhorting him. 
as far as his confession allowed me, to stand fast. He 
had made many a good resolution respecting his be- 
setting sins. I hope, as well as pray, that some lasting 
effect may be seen at Shiraz, from the word of God 
left among them." 



HRNRY MARTY N. 383 



CHAPTER X. 



MR. MARTYN LEAVES SHIRAZ, IN ORDER TO LAY BEFORE THE 
KING HIS TRANSLATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT — ARRIVES 
AT THE CAMP — IS NOT ADMITTED TO AN AUDIENCE — PRO- 
CEEDS TO TEBR1Z — SEVERE ILLNESS. 

On the evening of the 24th of May, one year after 
entering Persia, Mr. Martyn left Shiraz, in company 
with an English clergyman, with the intention of lay 
ing before the king his translation of the New Testa- 
ment ; but finding that, without a letter of introduc- 
sion from the British ambassador, he could not, con- 
sistently with established usage, be admitted into the 
royal presence, he determined to proceed to Tebriz, 
where, at that time, Sir Gore Ouseley, his Britannic 
majesty's minister, resided. 

His journey from Shiraz to Tebriz was not accom- 
olished in less than eight weeks, including one week 
spent at Isfahan, and a few days at the king's camp ; 
and the latter part of it was a time of great and unfore- 
seen suffering to him. Had he known to what peril his 
life would be subjected, he doubtless would have deem- 
ed his object of too insufficient a magnitude to justify 
his exposing himself to so much danger. 

" A little before sunset," Mr. Martyn writes, " I left 
the city, and at ten o'clock at night the cafila started. 
Thus ended my stay at Shiraz. No year of my life 
was ever spent more usefully, though such a long sepa 
ration from my friends was often a severe trial. Our 
journey to Persepolis was performed in ten hours. I 



384 MEMOIR OF 



corn- 



had a fall from my horse, owing to the saddle 

ing off, but a gracious Providence preserved me from 

harm." 

May 12. — " Staid at Futihabad, a village about a pa- 
rasang from the ruins." 

May 13. — " At three in the morning we pursued our 
way, and at eight reached a village at the north-eastern 
extremity of the plain of Persepolis. Remained all day 
at the caravansera, correcting the Prince's copy." 

May. 14. — " Continued our journey through two 
ridges of mountains to Imanzadu : no cultivation to be 
seen any where, nor scarcely any natural vegetable 
production, except the broom and hawthorn. The wea- 
ther was rather tempestuous, with cold gusts of wind 
and rain. 

" The inhabitants of the village, this being the Iman- 
zadu's tomb, do no work, and pay no tax ; but are 
maintained by the surrounding villages, and the casual 
offerings of visitors to the tomb. The caravansera be- 
ing in ruins, we staid all this rainy day at a private 
house, where we were visited by people who came to 
be cured of their distempers." 

May 15. — " From the top of a mountain, just behind 
Imanzadu, we descended into a vast plain, entirely un- 
inhabited, except where the skirts of it were spotted 
with the black tents of the wandering tribes. Crossing 
the plain obliquely, we passed over a mountain into 
another plain, where was the same scene of desolation. 
After a journey of ten parasangs, arrived, at two in the 
afternoon, at the caravansera Khooshee Zar, which be- 
ing in ruins, let in the wind upon us at night in all 
lirections." 



HENRY MARTY N. 385 

K On rising, on the morning of the 16th> we found a 
noa ' frost, and ice in the pools. The excessive cold at 
this place is accounted for, by its being the highest 
land between the Persian gulf and the Caspian sea. 
The baggage not having come up, we were obliged to 
pass another day in this uncomfortable neighborhood, 
where nothing was to be procured for ourselves or our 
horses; the scarcity of rain this year having left the 
ground destitute of verdure, and the poor village near 
us having nothing to sell." 

May 17. — " Our way to-day lay along the same plain ; 
on the left was a ridge of hills covered with snow. 
Entering another plain, into which the former led, we 
reached a caravansera, near a small walled village, 
called Dih Serdoo." 

May 18. — "After a journey of much the same length, 
over uneven ground, where the view was much ob- 
structed, we arrived at a caravansera, in a great cleft, 
which divides Fars from Irak." 

May 19. — " Moved forward six parasangs, to a pri 
vate house at Mnjrood. The plain, as usual, uninha- 
bited ; but we passed one village." 

May 20. — " Continued our march, over the same 
plain, to Comesha, four parasangs." 

May 21. — " To Mygar, five parasangs. Finished the 
revision of the Prince's copy. At eleven at night we 
started for Isfahan, where we arrived soon after sunrise 
on the 22d, and were accommodated in one of the 
king's palaces. Found my old Shiraz scribe here and 
corrected with him the Prince's copy." 

May 23. — " Called on the Armenian bishops at Julfa, 
and met Matteus. He is certainly vastly superior to 

Marty u. "d 



386 MEMOIR OF 

any Armenian I have yet seen. We went, next, to the 
Italian missionary, Joseph Carabiciate, a native 01 
Aleppo, but educated at Rome. He spoke Latin; was 
very sprightly, considering his age, which was sixty- 
six, but discovered no sort of inclination to talk about 
religion. Until lately, he had been supported by the 
Propaganda; but, weary at last, of exercising his func- 
tions without remuneration, and even without the ne- 
cessary provision, he talked of returning to Aleppo." 
May 24. — Sunday.— " Went early this morning to 
the Armenian church attached to the episcopal resi- 
dence. Within the rails were two out of the four bi- 
shops, and other ecclesiastics : but, in the body of the 
church, only three people. Most of the Armenians at 
Tulfa, which is now reduced to live hundred houses, 
attended at their respective parish churches, of which 
there are twelve, served by twenty priests. After their 
pageantry was over, and we were satisfied with pro- 
cessions, ringing of bells, waving of colors, and other 
ceremonies, which were so numerous as entirely to re- 
move all semblance of spiritual worship, we were con- 
demned to witness a repetition of the same mockery 
at the Italian's church, at his request. I could not stand 
it out ; but those who did, observed that the priest ate 
and drank all the consecrated elements himself, and 
gave none to the few poor women who composed his 
congregation, and who, the Armenians said, had been 
hired for the occasion. In our way back, we called at 
the convent of Armenian nuns, a company of ignorant 
old women, who screamed out something in the church, 
which they called a welcome anthem. I tried to con- 
verse with the abbess, through Matteus, and was not 



I 



HENRY MARTYN. SB"/ 

much surprised to find her utterly without information, 
when the bishops have so little. I wished to learn 
Matteus's sentiments on the subject of monachism. 
Though his defence of it showed that he was not 
strong in his belief of its utility, I was grieved to see 
that he did not perceive how far the Christian way of 
sanctification differed from these human devices to at- 
tain that object. I talked to him a good deal about the 
office of the Holy Spirit, but he did not, while assent- 
ing, seem to feel its importance. Before returning to 
Isfahan, we sat a short time in the garden, with the 
bishops. They, poor things ! had nothing to say, and 
could scarcely speak Persian ; so that all the conver- 
sation was between me and Matteus. At my request 
he brought what he had of the Holy Scriptures, in 
Persian and Arabic. They were Wheloi's Persian Gos- 
pels, and an Arabic version of the Gospels, printed at 
Rome. I tried in vain to bring him to any profitable 
discussion ; with more sense than his brethren, he is 
not more advanced in spiritual knowledge. Returned 
much disappointed. Julfa had formerly twenty bi- 
shops, and about one hundred clergy, with twenty-four 
churches. All the Armenians can read, and have the 
New Testament ; but family prayer is not known. 
They may go every day to church prayers. Matteus 
preaches every Sunday, he says, and this day expound- 
ed the first of John, which was the Gospel for the day." 
May 26. — " The Armenian bishops and three priests 
came to return our visit. Matteus brought with him a 
copy of the Gospels, Armenian and Persian, done by 
Joannes, the late bishop here ; who, he says, was a 
good scholar, and wrote on the divinity of Christ." 



388 MEMOIR OF 

Al the end of the month of May Mr. Martyn de- 
parted from Isfahan, and thus describes a route in 
which the extremes of lovely fertility and sterile deso- 
lation seem to have been united. 

June 1. — " Continued winding through the moun- 
tains to Caroo, situated in a deep dell. Here were 
trees, green corn-fields, and running streams ; it was 
the first place I have seen in Asia which exhibited any 
thing of the scenery of England." 

June 2. — " Soon after midnight we mounted our 
horses. It was a mild moonlight night, and a night- 
ingale filled the whole valley with his notes. Our way 
was along lanes, over which the wood on each side 
formed a canopy, and a murmuring rivulet accom 
panied us, till it was lost in a lake. At day-light we 
emerged into the plain of Cashan, which seems to be 
a part of the Great Salt Desert. On our arrival at the 
king's garden, where we intended to put up, we were 
at first refused admittance, but an application to the 
governor was soon attended to. We saw, here, huge 
snowy mountains on the north-east beyond Tehran." 

June 5. — " Reached Kom ; the country uniformly 
desolate. 

" The chief Moojtuhid in all Persia being a resident 
of this city, I sent to know if a visit would be agreea- 
ble to him. His reply was, that if I had any business 
with him, I might come; but if otherwise, his age and 
infirmities must be his excuse. Intending to travel a 
double stage, started soon after sunset ; and, on 

June 6. — " Crossed the desert, which we had been 
skirting from the day we came in sight of Cashan. 
After traveling ten parasangs, reached the caravansera 






HENRY MARTYN. 389 

of Hour Sultania. Here, first, we seemed to be ap- 
proaching the Tartar regions." 

June 7. — " Arrived at a caravansera, with villages 
in the neighborhood, seven parasangs. A large party 
gathered about me in the evening, and from asking 
questions about Europe, proceeded, as usual, to inter- 
rogate me concerning Christ. They continued about 
me till I mounted my horse, and rode from amongst 
them, to prosecute my journey." 

June 8. — " Arrived, two hours before day-break, at 
the walls of Tehran, I spread my bed upon the high 
road, and slept till the gates were open ; then entered 
the city, and took up my abode at the ambassador's 
house." 

As no muleteers could be procured at Tehran to 
proceed to Tebriz, it was considered advisable that 
Mr. Martyn should travel alone to the king's camp, for 
the purpose of seeing Mirza Shufi, the premier, or 
Ameenoddoula, and soliciting his assistance in obtain- 
ing for him an introduction to the king ; for he was 
" anxious to lose no time in presenting his book." So, 
"leaving the city," he says, "just before the gates were 
shut, and giving the cattle their feed outside the walls, 
I went on, and traveled all night, till sunrise, when I 
arrived at the caravansera, close to the king's camp at 
Carach. I lost no time in forwarding Jaffier Ali Khan's 
letter to the premier, who sent to desire that I would 
come to him. I found him lying ill in the verandah of 
the king's tent of audience. Near him were sitting two 
persons, who, I was afterwards informed, were Mirza 
Khanter, and Mirza Abdoolwahab; the latter being a 



390 MEMOIR OF 






secretary of state, and a great admirer of the Soofe 
sage. They took very little notice, not rising when I 
sat down, as is their custom to all who sit with them ; 
nor offering me calean. The two secretaries, on learn- 
ing my object in coming, began a conversation with 
me on religion and metaphysics, which lasted two 
hours. As they were both well-educated, gentlemanly 
men, the discussion was temperate, and, I hope, use- 
ful. What I remember of it was as follows : 'Do you 
consider the New Testament as the word spoken by 
God?' 'The sense from God, but the expression from 
the different writers of it.' Here the premier asked 
how many languages I understood ; whether I spoke 
French; where I was educated ; whether I understood 
astronomy and geography : and then observed to the 
others, that I spoke good Persian ; to which they as- 
sented. They resumed — 'We want to know what your 
learned men think about the state of the soul after 
death, till the resurrection.' I mentioned the different 
opinions. ' But how, think you, does the spirit exist 
without a body V ' Tell me,' said I, ! how the angels 
exist, and I will tell you.' 'In what sense do you be- 
lieve the resurrection of the body ? that every particle 
buried shall rise?' I mentioned the Scripture meta- 
phor of the wheat dying and rising, with which the 
Soofie secretary appeared much pleased. ' What are 
the principles of your religion ?' ' They are all centred 
in Jesus ; not in his precepts, but in himself.' ' What 
are your opinions concerning Christ ? was he a pro- 
phet created?' ' His manhood was created; his God- 
head, of course, was not.' ' Now we much wish to 
hear what are your notions on that extraordinary sub 



HENRY MARTYN. 391 

ject, the Trinity V I explained them, and began with 
observing that the doctrine was by no means so extra- 
ordinary as at first sight it appeared to be ; and then 
brought forward the illustration from the words, ' the 
Image of the invisible God. 5 'Have you read the Ko- 
ran V ' Yes.' ' Is it not a miracle V ' Prove it to be so.' 
The Soofie said, as if from me, 'The Arabs say it is 
inimitably elegant; how do I, who am a Persian, 
know it to be so V ' What do you say to the division of 
the moon V ' That there is no sufficient evidence for 
it.' 'What superior evidence have you for the mira- 
cles of Christ? 3 I was about to answer, when the 
Soofie, not thinking it would be satisfactory, said, ra- 
ther dogmatically, that no religion could be proved 
demonstratively. I said that ' if such a degree of pro- 
bable evidence was adduced, as w r e acted upon in com- 
mon life, we should be inexcusable in rejecting it.' 

' k On the top of the caravansera, at sunset, I had a 
conversation of a different kind, on these subjects. A 
man, seated on his rug, asked me what I walked up 
and down for, and told me to come and sit with him 
on his carpet. I did so, and found him to be a plain 
Mohammedan, that is, a compound of bigotry and ig- 
norance. Every thing I said went for nothing. I knew 
nothing at all about the Gospel. He had talked with 
Armenian preachers, and therefore knew more about 
the matter than myself. They had told him that the 
story of Jesus and Mary in the Koran was exactlv 
true ; this he took to be an acknowledgment that the 
book was from God. Thinking it worth while to see 
the state of the middling rank of Mohammedans, I lei 
him talk awav. He supposed that the Mohammedans 



392 MEMOIR OF 

had formerly taken all Europe, and that we still paid 
tribute for being permitted to live. That the mother oi 
Mehdi was the daughter of Simon Peter or Plato ; he 
could not tell which, but rather thought it was Con- 
stantine, emperor of Rome. He could not understand 
how Europe should be on one side of Persia, and India 
on the other. Such geographical difficulties are not to 
be wondered at in such a poor fellow, though he had 
traveled as a merchant a good deal, when the Mool- 
lahs, and probably even the ministers of state, do not 
know the relative situation of the provinces of their 
own kingdom. 

" This man was very angry at my presuming to 
ask why he was a Mohammedan. Finding me at last 
more disposed to hear than to speak, he began to 
think that his discourse had made some impression 
upon me ; and, with eyes sparkling with hopes of a 
conquest, told me, with great affection, what I should 
do to get a knowledge of the truth. ' Drink,' said he, 
' no wine for three days ; pray, according to your own 
form, for divine direction — and, depend upon it, you 
will find it.' l But supposing, 5 said I, ' that I have no 
such doubts in my mind as to feel my need of divine 
direction in this particular ; what then V i Why then,' 
said he, looking grimly, ' I have nothing more to say 
to you ; and so, good night. 5 " 

The third day after the above conversations, Mr. 
Marty n was called to a severer trial of his faith and 
patience than any to which he had yet been exposed. 
Several of the most intemperate Mooilahs set them* 
selves in array against him, and contended with him in 



HENRY MARTYN. 393 

Dehalf of Mohammedanism, in the presence of the prime 
minister of the kingdom. There it was demanded of him 
that he should deny that Savior who had bought him 
with his blood ; but he " witnessed a good confession, 5 ' 
and fearlessly acknowledged Jesus as his Lord. 

June 12. — "I attended the Vizier's levee, where 
there was a most intemperate and clamorous contro- 
versy kept up for an hour or two ; eight or ten on one 
side, and I on the other. Amongst them were two 
Moollahs, the most ignorant of any I have yet met 
with in either Persia or India. It would be impossible 
to enumerate all the absurd things they said. Their 
vulgarity in interrupting me in the middle of a speech ; 
their utter ignorance of the nature of an argument ; 
their impudent assertions about the law and the Gos- 
pel, neither of which they had ever seen in their lives, 
moved my indignation a little. I wished, and I said it 
would have been well if Mirza Abdoolwahab had been 
there ; I should then have had a man of sense to argue 
with. The Vizier, who set us going at first, joined in 
it latterly, and said, ' You had better say, God is God, 
and Mohammed is the prophet of God." I said, ' God 
is God, 5 but added, instead of ' Mohammed is the 
prophet of God, 5 ' and Jesus is the Son of God. J They 
had no sooner heard this, which I had avoided bring- 
ing forward till then, than they all exclaimed in con- 
tempt and anger, ' He is neither born nor begets. 5 and 
rose up as if they would have torn me in pieces. One 
of them said, c What will you say when your tongue 
is burnt out for this blasphemy V 

" One of them felt for me a little, and tried to soften 
the severity of this speech. My book, which I had 



394 



MEMOIR OF 



brought, expecting to present it to the king, lay before 
Mirza Shufi. As they all rose up, after him, to go, 
some to the king, and some away, I was afraid they 
would trample upon the book ; so I went in among 
them to take it up, and wrapped it in a towel before 
them | while they looked at it and me with supreme 
contempt. 

" Thus I walked away alone to my tent, to pass the 
rest of the day in heat and dirt. What have I done, 
thought I, to merit all this scorn? Nothing, I trust, 
but bearing testimony to Jesus. I thought over these 
things in prayer, and found that peace which Christ 
hath promised to his disciples: 

1 If on my face, for thy dear name,' &c. 

" To complete the trials of the day, a message came 
from the Vizier, in the evening, to say that it was the 
custom of the king not to see any Englishman, unless 
presented by the ambassador, or accredited by a letter 
from him ; and that I must therefore wait till the king 
reached Sultania, where the ambassador would be." 

After this " day of rebuke and blasphemy," — when 
that divine promise was eminently fulfilled towards 
Mr. Martyn, " thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy 
presence from the pride of man ; thou shalt keep them 
secretly in thy pavilion from the strife of tongues ;" 
when, having heard the " slander of many," and being 
made " a reproach among all his enemies," he could 
nevertheless exclaim with the Psalmist, " O how great 
is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that 
fear thee, which thou hast wrought for them that 
trust in thee before the sons of men" — he turned his 






back upon the king's camp, having been joined by his 
companion from Tehran, and prosecuted his journey 
towards Tebriz. 

June 13. — " Disappointed," he writes, " of my ob- 
ject in coming to the camp, I lost no time in leaving 

it, and proceeded, in company with Mr. C , who 

had just joined me from Tehran, towards Casbin ; in- 
tending there to wait the result of an application to 
the ambassador. Started at eleven, and traveled till 
eleven next morning, having gone ten parasangs, or 
forty miles, to Quishlag. The country all along was 
well watered and cultivated. The mules being too 
much tired to proceed, we passed the day at the vil- 
lage ; indeed, we all wanted rest. As I sat down in the 
dust, on a shady side of a walled village by which we 
passed, and surveyed the plains over which our road 
lay, I sighed at the thought of my dear friends in In- 
dia and England ; of the vast regions I must traverse 
before I can get to either, and of the various and un- 
expected hinderances which present themselves to my 
going forward ! I comfort myself with the hope that 
my God has something for me to do, by thus delaying 
my exit." 

June 16.— " Continued at the village, in consequence 

of an illness with which Mr. C was attacked ; but 

at night we moved forward^ and after traveling seven 
parasangs over the same fine plain, reached Casbin." 

June 17. — "In the caravansera there, they were 
collecting straw, &c. for the king, whom they expected 
in ten days. On this plea, they refused to allow us to 
unload there." 

June 18. — " Endeavored to get a muleteer to go to 



396 MEMOIR OF 

the ambassador, but could agree with none; so I deter 
mined to stay at Casbin. I had at first intended to go 
on to Sultania, there to wait for the king." 

June 20.—" Left this place, not a little disgusted at 
the reception we had met with there. One parasang 
off, we stopped at a village to get something for break 
fast. One of the people there asked a good many 
questions about our religion. It was such an unusual 
thing to be traveling coolly, in the middle of the day, 
in the East, that it produced a new train of ideas: in- 
deed, I thought of nothing but of my dear friends in 
England, and of the days when, in weather like this, 
I walked with them, ' taking sweet counsel.' While 
passing over the plain, mostly on foot, I had them all 
in my mind, and bore them upon my heart in prayer. 
The north wind from the Caspian, I suppose, blowing 
through some clouds which rested on the mountains 
on our right, made the air excessively cold. 

" Arrived, between twelve and one o'clock, at Scab 
Dulir, where a villager gave us his house; and though 
the room we were in was so constructed as scarcely 
to admit the light, we had need of all our skins to keep 
us warm." 

June 21. — " On account of the coolness of the wea- 
ther, we did not think it necessary to start till seven 
o'clock, after breakfast. Arrived at the village of Aber 
at four o'clock in the afternoon, having taken the 
shortest route. Till we reached the high and frequent- 
ed road, all was barrenness ; but from thence we found 
a good deal of cultivation, as also all the way from 
Casbin ; near which city the vineyards were all open 
to the road ; there was not so much as a fence." 



HENRY MARTYN. 397 

June 22. — " Left Sangla at a quarter past five in the 
morning, and at a quarter past ten reached Sultania. 
The weather was perfectly cool and agreeable, and all 
around were the pastures of the wilderness. We met 
with the usual insulting treatment at the caravansera, 
where the king's servants had got possession of a good 
room, built for the reception of the better order of 
guests ; they seemed to delight in the opportunity of 
humbling an European. Sultania is still but a village, 
yet the Zengan prince has quartered himself and all his 
attendants, with their horses, on this poor little village. 
All along the road where the king is expected, the 
people are patiently waiting, as for some dreadful dis- 
aster : plague, pestilence, or famine, are nothing to the 
misery of being subject to the violence and extortion 
of this rabble soldiery. One of our servants, who him- 
self had formerly been a soldier in the king's camp, 
said, that the troops were raised from the wandering 
tribes, and from the cities. Those from the tribes are 
paid by the king, the others by the cities. Sons of the 
chiefs of the tribes, and, indeed, of all in important 
governments, are detained at court as hostages. 

June 24. — " Left Sultania at half-past three. Saw 
some water-tortoises on the edge of the little stream 
which watered the vale. Continued our course to Zen- 
gan, a walled city, distant from Sultania six parasangs. 
Here we found, in the caravansera, large bales of cot- 
ton, brought by merchants from Tehran, intended for 
Turkey. There were also two Tartar merchants, na- 
tives of Astrachan, who had brought iron and tea for 
sale. They wished to know whether we wanted tea of 
Cathay. I was curious to know something about the 



i98 MEMOIR OF 






countries they had visited ; but they spoke nothing but 
Turkish, without which language a person may travel 
to very little purpose in these parts : Persian is quite a 
foreign language." 

June 25. — " After a restless night, rose so ill with a 

fever that I could not go on. My companion, Mr. C , 

was nearly in the same state. We touched nothing all 
day." 

June 26. — " After such another night, I had deter- 
mined to go on, but Mr. C declared himself unable 

to stir ; so here we dragged through another miserable 
day. What added to our distress was, that we were in 
danger, if detained here another day or two, of being 
absolutely in want of the necessaries of life before 
reaching Tebriz. We made repeated applications to 
the monied people, but none would advance a piaster. 
Where are the people who flew forth to meet General 
Malcolm with their purses and their lives? Another 
generation is risen up, " who know not Joseph." Pro- 
videntially a poor muleteer, arriving from Tebriz, be- 
came security for us, and thus we obtained five tomans. 
This was a heaven-send; and we lay down quietly, 
free from apprehensions of being obliged to go a fa- 
tiguing journey of eight or ten hours, without a house 
or village in the way, in our present weak and reduced 
state. We had now eaten nothing for two days. My 
mind was much disordered from head-ache and giddi- 
ness, from which I was seldom free ; but my heart, I 
trust, was with Christ and his saints. To live much 
longer in this world of sickness and pain, seemed no 
way desirable ; the most favorite prospects of my heart 
seemed very poor and childish • and cheerfully would 



HENRY MARTY N. 6&J 

1 have exchanged them all for the unfading inheri- 
tance." 

June 27. — " My Armenian servant was attacked in 
the same way. The rest did not get me the things that 
[ wanted, so that I passed the third day in the same 
exhausted state ; my head, too, was tortured with 
shocking pains, such as, together with the horror I felt 
at being exposed to the sun, showed me plainly to what 
to ascribe my sickness. Towards evening, two more o* 
our servants were attacked in the same way, and lay 
groaning from pains in the head." 

June 28. — " All were much recovered, but in the 
afternoon I again relapsed. During a high fever, Mr. 

C read to me, in bed, the Epistle to the Ephesians, 

and I never felt the consolations of that divine revela- 
tion of mysteries more sensibly and solemnly. Rain 
in the night prevented our setting off." 

June 29. — " My ague and fever returned, with such 
a head-ache that I was almost frantic, Again and again 
I said to myself, ' Let patience have her perfect work ;' 
and kept pleading the promises, ' When thou passest 
through the waters, I will be with thee,' &c. and the 
Lord did not withhold his presence. I endeavored to 
repel all the disordered thoughts that the fever occa- 
sioned, and to keep in mind that all was friendly; a 
friendly Lord presiding, and nothing exercising me 
but what would show itself at last friendly. A violent 
perspiration at last relieved the acute pain in my head. 
and my heart rejoiced ; but as soon as that was over, 
the exhaustion it occasioned, added to the fatigue from 
the pain, left me in as low a state of depression as ever 
[ was in. I seemed about to sink into a long fainting 



400 MEMOIR OF 

fit, and I almost wished it; but at this moment, a little 
after midnight, I was summoned to mount my horse 
and set out, rather dead than alive. We moved on six 
parasangs. We had a thunder-storm with hail." 

July 1. — " A long and tiresome march to Sarehund ; 
m seven parasangs there was no village. They had 
nothing to sell but buttermilk and bread; but a ser- 
vant of Abbas Mirza happening to be at the same eara- 
vansera, sent us some flesh of a mountain-cow, which 
he had shot the day before. All day I had scarcely 
the right recollection of myself, from the violence of 
the ague. We have now reached the end of the level 
ground, which we have had all the way from Tehran, 
and are approaching the boundaries of Parthia and Me- 
dia ; a most natural boundary it is, as the two ridges of 
mountains we have had on the left and right, come 
round and form a barrier." 

July 2. — " At two in the morning we set out. I hardly 
know when I have been so disordered. I had little oi 
no recollection of things, and what I did remember, at 
times, of happy scenes in India or England, served 
only to embitter my present situation. Soon after re- 
moving into the air, I was seized with a violent ague, 
and in this state I went on till sunrise. At three para- 
sangs and a half we found a fine caravansera, appa- 
rently very little used, as the grass was growing in the 
court. There was nothing all round but the barren 
rocks, which generally roughen the country before the 
mountain rears its height. Such an edifice, in such a 
situation, was cheering. Soon after, we came to a 
river, over which was a high bridge; I sat down in the 
shade under it, with two camel-drivers. The cafila, as 



HENRY MARTYN. 401 

H happened, forded the river, and passed on, without 

my perceiving it. Mr. C , seeing no signs of me. 

returned, and after looking about for some time, espied 
my horse grazing; he concluded immediately that the 
horse had flung me from the bridge into the river, and 
was almost ready to give me up for lost. My speedy 
appearance from under the bridge relieved his terror 
and anxiety. The pass was a mere nothing to those 
at Bushire ; in fact, it was no part of the mountain we 
climbed, but only a few hills. In a natural opening in 
the mountains, on the other side, was a river, with 
most of its bed dry; and over it a bridge of many 
arches, which led us to an un walled village, surrounded 
by cornfields, which we reached at ten o'clock. Half 
the people still continue ill ; for myself, I am, through 
God's infinite mercy, recovering." 

July 3o — " Started at three, full three hours after we 
ought, and, as was to be expected, we all got ill again, 
from being exposed to the sun six hours; for we did not 
get to our ground, Turcoman, till eleven o'clock. It 
was a poor village among the hills, over which our 
whole way lay from Minau. Ascending one, and de- 
scending another, was the whole of the variety, so 
that I do not know when we have had a more tire- 
some day." 

July 4. — " 1 so iar prevailed as to get the cafila into 
motion at midnight. Lost our way in the night, but 
arriving at a village, were set right again. At eight 
came to Kilk caravansera, but not stopping there, went 
on to a village, where we arrived at. half-past nine. 
The baggage not coming up till long after, we got no 
breakfast till one o'clock. In consequence of all these 

Mariyn. 26 



402 MEMOIR 0? 

things, want of sleep, want of refreshment, and ex 
posure to the sun, I was presently in a high fever ; which 
raged so furiously all the day, that I was nearly de- 
lirious, and it was some time before I could get the 
right recollection of myself. I almost despaired, and 
do now, of getting alive through this unfortunate jour- 
ney. Last night I felt remarkably well, calm, and 
composed, and sat reflecting on my heavenly rest, with 
more sweetness of soul, abstraction from the world, 
and solemn views of God, than I have had for a long 
time. O for such sacred hours ! This short and pain- 
ful life would scarcely be felt, could I live thus at 
heaven's gate. It being impossible to continue my 
journey in my present state, and one of the servants 
also being so ill that he could not move with safety, 
we determined to halt one day at the village, and sent 
on a messenger to Sir Gore, at Tebriz, informing him 
of our approach." 

July 5. — " Slept all day, and at sunset prepared to 
proceed all the way to Tebriz, or at least to Seid Abad ; 
but we did not set out till one in ihe morning. I was 
again dreadfully disordered with head-ache and fever. 
We got into a wretched hovel, where the raging fever 
almost deprived me of reason. In the cool of the even- 
ing we set out to go to Seid Abad, distant about three 
parasangs. When the cafila arrived near Seid Abad, it 
was a dark night, about eleven o'clock, and not one of 
the party knew where it was, nor could we discover it 
by the barking of the dogs, the usual sign. Once we 
heard the bark, and made sure of having attained our 
object ; but found only some shepherds keeping watch 
over their flocks by night, These boors showed us 






HENRY MARTYN. 403 

which road to take, which we soon found end in no- 
thing ; so returning, we tried to induce one of them to 
serve as a guide, with the promise of an)' sum of mo- 
ney he required — but all in vain. The only thing that 
remained to be done was to lie down on the spot and 
wait patiently for the day : which I did, and caught 
such a cold, as, with all our other exposures, consum- 
mated my disorders. As soon as it was day, we found 

our way to the village, where Dr. was waiting for 

us. Not being able to stay for us, he went on to Tebriz, 
and we as far as Wasmuch, where he promised to pro- 
cure for us a fine upper room furnished ; but when we 
arrived, they denied that there was any such place ; at 
last, after an hour's threatening, we got admittance to 
it. An hour before break of day I left it, in hopes of 
reaching Tebriz before sunrise. Some of the people 
seemed to feel compassion for me, and asked me if I 
was not very ill. At last I reached the gate, and feebty 
asked for a man to show me the way to the ambas- 
sador's." 

By a fever of nearly two months' continuance, which, 
during the greater portion of that period, raged with 
unremitting severity, Mr. Martyn was defeated in his 
intention of presenting, in person, his translation of the 
New Testament to the king of Persia, and to the prince 
his son. His disappointment, however, on this occa- 
sion, was greatly diminished by the kindness of Sir 
Gore Ouseley, who, together with his lady, was ten- 
derly and assiduously attentive to Mr. Martyn through- 
out the whole of his illness ; and who, in order that 
nothing might be wanting conducive to the favorable 



4(4 MEMOIR OF 

acceptance of the New Testament by the king, pro- 
mised himself to present it at court.* 

The idea of returning to England, which first occur- 
xed to Mr. Martyn at Cawnpore, was, as we have seen, 
instantly abandoned by him, on its appearing to be the 
divine will that he should visit Persia. After accom- 
plishing his great object in that country, the general 
state of his health seeming to him to render the mea- 
sure requisite, he reverted to his original intention ; in 
the prosecution of which he was confirmed by his long 
illness at Tebriz, which had been induced by exposure 
to a heated atmosphere. 

Happy would it have been, speaking after the man- 
ner of men, had he been less precipitate in putting his 
design in execution ; but, on the tenth day after his re- 
covery, he commenced his journey. What he felt when 
deprived of health, and what were his sensations when 
in a considerable degree restored to it, may be seen in 
extracts from two letters, the one addressed to Mr. 
Simeon, from the bed of suffering ; the other sent to a 
friend exceedingly beloved by him in Cornwall. 

" I would not pain your heart," he said in the first, 
" but we who are in Jesus have the privilege of view- 
ing life and death as nearly the same, since both are 
ours ; and I thank a gracious Lord that sickness never 
came at a time when I was more free from apparent 
reasons for living. Nothing, seemingly, remains for 

* Sir Gore Ouseley, according to his promise, laid the New 
Testament before the king, who publicly expressed his appro- 
bation of the work. He also carried the MS. to St. Petersburg, 
where, under his superintendence, it was printed and put into 
circulation. 






HENRY MARTYN. 405 

me to do, but to follow the rest of my family to the 
tomb." 

" It has pleased God," he wrote in the second, "to 
restore me to life and health again : not that I have 
yet recovered my former strength, but I consider 
myself sufficiently restored to prosecute my journey. 
My daily prayer is, that my late chastisement may 
have its intended effect, and make me, all the rest of 
my days more humble and less self-confident. Self- 
confidence has often let me down fearful lengths ; and 
would, without God's gracious interference, prove my 
endless perdition. I seem to be made to feel this evil 
of my heart more than any other at this time. In 
prayer, or when I write or converse on the subject, 
Christ appears to me my life and strength; but at 
other times I am thoughtless and bold, as if I had all 
life and strength in myself. Such neglects on our 
part, are a diminution of our joys; but the Covenant ! 
the Covenant stands fast with Him for his people ever- 
more. I mentioned my conversing sometimes on di- 
vine subj^-ts. In these I am sometimes led on by the 
Soofie Persians, and tell them all I know of the very 
recesses of the sanctuary. But to give an account of 
all my discussions with these mystic philosophers 
must be reserved to the time of our meeting. Do I 
dream ! that I venture to think and write of such an 
event as that ? Is it possible that we shall ever meet 
again below ? Though it is possible, I dare not indulge 
such a pleasing hope. 

" In three days I intend setting my hurse's head to- 
wards Constantinople, distant about one thousand 
three hundred miles. Nothing. I think, will occasion 



406 MEMOIR OF 

any farther detention here, if I can procure servants 
who know both Persian and Turkish. Ignorant as I 
am of Turkish, should I be taken ill on the road, my 
case would be pitiable indeed. The ambassador and 
his suite are still here ; his and Lady Ouseley's atten- 
tions to me during my illness, have been unremitted. 
The Prince Abbas Mirza, the wisest of the king's sons, 
and heir to the throne, was here some time after my 
arrival. I much wished to present a copy of the Per- 
sian New Testament to him, but I could not rise from 
my bed. The book, however, will be given him by the 
ambassador. Public curiosity about the Gospel, now 
for the first time, in the memory of the modern Per- 
sians, introduced into the country, is a good deal ex- 
cited here and at Shiraz, and in other places ; so that, 
upon the whole, I am thankful for having been led 
hither, and detained ; though my residence in this 
country has been attended with many unpleasant cir- 
cumstances. The way of the kings of the East is pre- 
paring : thus much may be said with safety, but little 
more. The Persians will also probably take the lead 
in the march to Zion." 



HENRY MARTYN. 407 



CHAPTER XI. 

2£R. MARTYN COMMENCES HIS JOURNEY HOMEWARDS, BY WAY OF 
CONSTANTINOPLE — VISITS ECHMIADZIN — SUFFERS FROM FEVER 
— DIES, AT TOCAT, IN PERSIA — VIEW OF HIS CHARACTER — 
CONCLUSION, 

With such feeble, hopes of reaching England, Mr. 
Marty n commenced a journey which was the most 
painful, and at the same time the most joyful one he 
ever undertook. The miseries he endured in it were 
intense ; but it ended in heaven. 

Sept. 2. — "All things being ready," he says, " I set 
out on my long journey of one thousand three hun- 
dred miles, carrying letters from Sir G. Ouseley, for 
the governors of Erivan, Kars, and Erzeroom, and the 
ambassador at Constantinople. My party consisted of 
two Armenian servants, Antoine, the groom, and Ser- 
gius, who was to accompany me all the way to Con- 
stantinople, he professing to speak Persian and Turk- 
ish, and to' be qualified to act as my interpreter ; but 
his knowledge of the former I soon found to be rathei 
scanty. These were mounted, and two other horses 
carried my luggage; my Mihmander had also Chap- 
par* horses ; and I rode my own ; there was also a 
man on foot, to bring back the cattle. As we passed 
through the bazars of Tebriz, I saw quantities of the 
finest fruit displayed on every stand. At sunset we 

* Mr. Martyn, through the friendly interference of the am 
bassador, traveled with what are termed Chappar Horses', 
for an account of which see Burdens Oriental Customs, p. 260 



408 MEMOIR OP 

left the western gate of Tebriz behind us. The horses 
proved to be sorry animals; one sunk so often under 
his load that we were six hours going what the Mih- 
mander called two parasangs, but which was undoubt- 
edly three or four. It was midnight before we arrived 
at Sangla, a village in the middle of the plain of Tebriz. 
There they procured me a place in the Zabit's house. 
I slept till after sunrise of the third, and did not 
choose to proceed at such an hour; so I passed most 
of the day in my room. At three in the afternoon pro- 
ceeded towards Sofian. My health being again re- 
stored, through infinite and unbounded mercy, I was 
able to look round the creation with calm delight. 
The plain of Tebriz, towards the west and south-west, 
stretches away to an immense distance, and is bound- 
ed in these directions by mountains so remote as to 
appear, from their soft blue, to blend with the skies. 
The baggage having been sent on before, I ambled on 
with my Mihmander, looking all around me, and es- 
pecially towards the distant hills, with gratitude and 
joy. O ! it is necessary to have been confined to a bed 
of sickness, to know the delight of moving freely 
through the works of God, with the senses left at li- 
berty to enjoy their proper objects. My attendant not 
being very conversant with Persian,, we rode silently 
along: for my part, I could not have enjoyed any 
companion so much as I did my own feelings. At 
sunset we reached Sofian, a village with gardens, at 
the north-west end of the plain ; which is usually the 
first stage from Tebriz. The Zabit was in his corn- 
field, under a little tent, inspecting his laborers, who 
were cutting the straw fine, so as to be fit to be eaten 



HENRY MARTYN. 409 

by cattle j this was done by drawing over it a cylin- 
der armed with blades of a triangular form, placed in 
different planes, so that their vertices should coincide 
in the cylinder. 

K The Zabit paid me no attention, but sent a man to 
show me a place to sleep in, who took me to one with 
only three walls. I demanded another with four, and 
was accordingly conducted to a weaver's, where, not- 
withstanding the musquetoes, and other vermin, J 
passed the night comfortably enough. On my offering 
money, the Mihmander interfered, and said that if it 
were known that I had given money, he should be 
ruined; and added— 'they, indeed, dare not take it;' 
but this I did not find to be the case." 

Sept. 4. — " At sunrise mounted my horse, and pro 
ceeded north-west, through a pass in the mountains, 
towards Merend. By the way, I sat down by the brook, 
and there ate my bread and raisins 5 and drank of the 
crystal stream ; but either the coldness of this unusual 
breakfast, or the riding after it, did not at all agree 
with me. The heat oppressed me much, and the road 
seemed intolerably tedious ; at last we got out from 
among the mountains, and saw the village of Merend, 
in a fine valley on the right. It was about eleven 
o'clock when we reached it. As the Mihmander could 
not immediately find a place to put me in, we had a 
complete view of this village. They stared at my Eu- 
ropean dress, but no disrespect was shown. I was 

deposited, at last, with Khan, who was seated in 

a place with three walls. Not at all disposed to pass 
the day in company, as well as exposed, I asked for 
another room j on which I was shown to the stable, 



410 MEMOIR OF 

where there was a little place partitioned off, but so as 
to admit a view of the horses. The smell of the stable, 
though not in general disagreeable to me, was so 
strong, that I was quite unwell, and strangely dispi- 
rited and melancholy. Immediately after dinner I fell 
fast asleep, and slept four hours ; after which I rose 
and ordered them to prepare for the next journey. The 
horses being changed here, it was some time before 
they were brought, but, by exerting myself, we moved 
off by midnight. It was a most mild and delightful 
night, and the pure air, after the smell of the stable, 
was quite reviving. For once, also, I traveled all the 
way without being sleepy; and beguiled the hours of 
the night by thinking of the 14th Psalm, especially the 
connection of the last three verses with the preceding." 
Sept. 5. — " In five hours we were just on the hills 
which face the pass out of the valley of Merend, and 
in four hours and a half more, emerged from between 
the two ridges of mountains into the valley of Gurjur. 
Gurjur is eight parasangs from Merend, and our course 
to it was nearly due north. This long march was far 
from being a fatiguing one. The air, the road, and my 
spirits were good. Here I was well accommodated, 
but had to mourn over my impatient temper towards 
my servants ; there is nothing that disturbs my peace 
so much. How much more noble and godlike to bear 
with calmness, and observe with pity, rather than an- 
ger, the failings and offences of others. O that I may, 
through grace, be enabled to recollect myself in this 
time of temptation ! O that the Spirit of God may 
check my folly, and, at such times, bring the Jowly 
Savior to my view." 



HENRY MAJITYN. 411 

Sept. 6. — " Soon after twelve we started with fresh 
horses, and came to the Aras, or Araxes, distant two 
parasangs, and about as broad as the Isis, with a cur- 
rent as strong as that of the Ganges. The ferry-boat 
being on the other side, 1 lay down to sleep till it came, 
but observing my servants do the same, I was obliged 
to get up and exert myself. It dawned, however, be- 
fore we got over. The boat was a huge fabric, in the 
form of a rhombus. The ferryman had only a stick 
to push with ; an oar, I dare say, he had never seen 
or heard of, and many of my train had probably never 
floated before ; so alien is a Persian from every thing 
that belongs to shipping. We landed safely on the 
other side in about two minutes. We were four hours 
in reaching Nakhehevan, and for half an hour more I 
was led from street to street, till at last I was lodged in 
a wash-house belonging to a great man, a corner of 
which was cleaned out for me. It was near noon, and 
my baggage was not arrived ; so that I was obliged to 
go without my breakfast, which was hard, after a ride 
for four hours in the sun. The baggage was delayed 
so long that I began to fear ; at last, however, it ar- 
rived. All the afternoon I slept, and at sunset arose, 
and continued wakeful till midnight, when I roused 
my people, and with fresh horses set out again. We 
traveled till sunrise. I scarcely perceived that we had 
been moving — a Hebrew word in the 16th Psalm hav- 
ing led me gradually into speculations on the eighth 
conjugation of the Arabic verb. I am glad my philo- 
logical curiosity is revived, as my mind will be less 
liable to idleness." 

Sept. 7. — " Arrived at Khoik, a poor village, distant 



412 MEMOIR OF 

five and a half parasangs from Nakhehevan, nearly 
west. I should have mentioned, that on descending 
into the plain of Nakhehevan, my attention was ar- 
rested by the appearance of a hoary mountain, oppo- 
site to us at the other end, rising so high above the 
rest that they sunk into insignificance. It was truly 
sublime, and the interest it excited was not lessened, 
when, on inquiring its name, I was told it was Agri, or 
Ararat. Thus I saw two remarkable objects in one 
dav, the Araxes and Ararat. At four in the afternoon 
we set out for Sharoor. The evening was pleasant ; 
the ground over which we passed was full of rich cul- 
tivation and verdure, watered by many a stream, and 
containing forty villages, most of them with the usual 
appendage of gardens. To add to the scene, the great 
Ararat was on our left. On the peak of that hill the 
whole church was once contained : it has now spread 
far and wide, even to the ends of the earth, but the 
ancient vicinity of it knows it no more. I fancied 
many a spot where Noah, perhaps, offered his sa- 
crifices ; and the promise of God, ' that seed time 
and harvest should not cease, 5 appeared to me to be 
more exactly fulfilled in the agreeable plain in which 
it was spoken than elsewhere, as I had not seen such 
fertility in any part of the Shah's dominions. Here 
the blessed saint landed in a new world ; so may I, 
safe in Christ, outride the storm of life, and land at last 
on one of the everlasting hills ! 

" Night coming on, we lost our way, and got inter- 
cepted by some deep ravines, into one of which the 
horse that carried my trunks sunk so deep that the 
water got into one of them, wetted the linen, and spoil- 



HENRY MARTYN. 413 

ed some books. Finding it in vain to attempt gaining 
our munzil, we went to another village, where, after a 
long delay, two aged men with silver beards opened 
their house to us. Though it was near midnight, I had 
a fire lighted to dry my books, took some coffee, and 
sunk into deep sleep ; from which awaking at the 
earliest dawn of 

Sept. 8. — " I roused the people, and had a delightful 
ride of one parasang to Sharoor, distant four parasangs 
from Khoik. Here I was accommodated by the great 
man with a stable, or winter room, for they build it in 
such a strange vicinity, in order to have it warm in 
winter. At present, while the weather is still hot, the 
smell is at times overpowering. At eleven at night we 
moved off, with fresh horses, for Duwala ; but though 
we had guides in abundance, we were not able to ex- 
tricate ourselves from the ravines with which this vil- 
lage is surrounded. Procuring another man from a 
village we happened to wander into, we at last made 
our way, through grass and mire, to the pass, which 
led us to a country as dry as the one we had left was 
wet. Ararat was now quite near : at the foot of it is 
Duwala, six parasangs from Nakhehevan, where we 
arrived at seven in the morning of 

Sept. 9. — " As I had been thinking all night of a He- 
brew letter, I perceived little of the tediousness of the 
way. I tried also some difficulties in the 16th Psalm, 
without being able to master them. All day on the 
15th and 16th Psalm, and gained some light into the 
difficulties. The villagers not bringing the horses in 
lime, we were not able to go on at night ; but I was 
not much concerned, as I thereby gained some rest" 



414 MEMOIR OF 

Sept. 10. — "All day at the village, writing down 
notes on the 15th and 16th Psalm. Moved at midnight 
and arrived early in the morning at Erivan." 

Sept. 11. — " I alighted at Hosyn Khan, the gover- 
nor's palace, as it may be called, for he seems to live 
in a style equal to that of a prince. Indeed, command- 
ing a fortress on the frontier, within six hours of the 
Russians, he is intrusted with a considerable force, 
and is nearly independent of the Shah. After sleeping 
two hours, I was summoned to his presence. He at 
first took no notice of me, but continued reading his 
Koran, it being the Mohurrun. After a compliment or 
two, he resumed his devotions. The next ceremony 
was to exchange a rich shawl dress for a still richer 
pelisse, on pretence of its being cold. The next display 
was to call for his physician, who, after respectfully 
feeling his pulse, stood on one side : this was to show 
that he had a domestic physician. His servants were 
most richly clad. My letter from the ambassador, 
which till now had lain neglected on the ground, w*as 
opened and read by a Moonshee. He heard with great 
interest what Sir Gore had written about the transla- 
tion of the Gospels. After this he was very kind and 
attentive, and sent for Lieutenant M of the engi- 
neers, who was stationed, with two Serjeants, at this 
fort. In the afternoon, the governor sent for me again 
in private. A fountain, in a basin of white marble, was 
playing before him, and in it water grapes and melons 
were cooling : two time-pieces were before him, to 
show the approach of the time of lawful repast : be- 
low the window, at a great depth, ran a broad and 
rapid stream, over rocks and stones, under a bridge of 






HENRY MARTY N. 415 

two arches, producing an agreeable murmur : on the 
other side of the river were gardens, and a rich plain ; 
and directly in front, Ararat. He was now entirely 
free from ceremony, but too much fatigued to con 
verse. I tried to begin a religious discussion, by ob 
serving that c he was in one paradise now, and was ir 
quest of another hereafter ;' but this remark produced 
no effect. He ordered for me a Mihmander, a guard 
and four horses, with which a Turk had just come 
from Kars. Lieut. M— dined and passed the rest of 
the evening with us." 

Sept. 12. — " The horses not being ready for me ac- 
cording to my order, I rode alone, and found my way 
to Echmiadzin (or Three Churches) two and a half 
parasangs distant. Directing my course to the largest 
church, I found it enclosed by some other buildings 
and a wall. Within the entrance I found a large court 
with monks, cowled and gowned, moving about. On 
seeing my Armenian letters, they brought me lo the 
patriarch's lodge, where I found two Bishops, one of 
whom was Nerses, at breakfast on pilaws, kubebs, 
wine, arrack, &c. and Serafino with them. As he 
spoke English, French, and Italian, I had no difficulty 
in communicating with my hosts. After breakfast, Se- 
rafino showed me the room appointed for me, and sat 
down and told me his story. His proper name, in Ar- 
menian, is Serope ; he was born at Erzeroom, of Ar- 
menian Roman Catholic parents. His father dying 
when he was young, his mother intrusted him to the 
care of the missionaries, to be carried to Rome to be 
educated. There he studied eight years, and became 
perfectly Europeanized. At eighteen or twenty he left 



416 MEMOIR OF 

Rome, and repaired to Mount Libanus, where he was 
9rdained; and there his eyes were opened to the 
falsehood of the Pope's pretensions. After this he 
served the Armenian church at Erzeroom, and then 
at Kars, after which he went to Bagdad. Receiving at 
this time an invitation from the patriarch at Echmiad- 
zin, to join their body, he consented, on condition that 
he should not be considered as a common monk ; and 
accordingly he is regarded with that deference which 
nis talents and superior information demand. He is ex- 
erting himself to extend his influence in the monas- 
tery, for the purpose of executing some plans he has 
formed for the improvement of the Armenians. The 
monastery, and consequently the whole of the Arme- 
nians, are under the direction of Nerses, one of the 
bishops; for the patriarch Ephraim is a mere cypher, 
and passes most of his time in bed. About three years 
ago Nerses succeeded in forming a synod for the ma- 
nagement of the business of the church, consisting of 
eight bishops, in which, of course, he is all-powerful. 
The patriarch is elected by twelve bishops. One mem- 
ber alone of the synod is a man of any ability, and he 
sometimes ventures to differ from Nerses. The object 
which Serope has at heart, is a college, to teach the 
Armenian youth logic, rhetoric, and the other sciences. 
The expediency of this is acknowledged, but they can- 
not agree about the place where the college should be. 
Serope, considering the danger to which the cathedral 
seat is exposed, from its situation between Russia, 
Persia, and Turkey, is for building it at Teflis. Nerses, 
on the contrary, considering that Echmiadzin is the 
spot appointed by heaven, according to a vision of 



HENRY MARTYN. 417 

Gregory, for the cathedral seat, and so sanctified, is 
for having it there. The errors and superstitions oi 
his people were the subject of Serope's conversation 
for the whole morning, and seemed to be the occasion 
of real grief to him. He intended, he said, after a few 
more months' trial of what he could do here, to retire 
to India, and then write and print some works in Ar- 
menian, tending to enlighten the people with regard 
to religion, in order to introduce a reform. I said all I 
could to encourage him in such a blessed work; pro- 
mising him every aid from the English, and proving 
to him, from the example of Luther and the other Eu- 
ropean Reformers, that, however arduous the work 
might seem, God would surely be with him to help 
him. I mentioned the awful neglect of the Armenian 
clergy, in never preaching ; as thereby the glad ti- 
dings of a Savior were never proclaimed. He made no 
reply to this, but that ' it was to be lamented, as the 
people were never called away from vice. 5 When the 
bell rang for vespers, we went together to the great 
church. The ecclesiastics, consisting of ten bishops 
and other monks, with the choristers, were drawn up 
in a semicircle fronting the altar, for a view of which 
the church door was left open. Serope fell into his 
place, and went through a few of the ceremonies; he 
then took me into the church, never ceasing to remark 
upon the ignorance and superstition of the people 
Some of his Catholic prejudices against Luther seem 
ed to remain. The monks dined together in the hall at 
eleven; at night, each sups in his own room. Serope 
Nerses, and two or three others, form a party them 
selves, and seldom dine in the hall, where coarseness 
both of meals and manners, too much prevails." 

Martyn. 27 



418 MEMOIR OF 

Sept. 13. — " I asked Serope about the 16th Psalm in 
the Armenian version ; he translated it into correct 
Latin. In the afternoon I waited on the patriarch ; it 
was a visit of great ceremony. He was reclining on a 
sort of throne, placed in the middle of the room. All 
stood, except the two senior bishops ; a chair was set 
for me on the other side, close to the patriarch ; at my 
right hand stood Serope, to interpret. The patriarch 
had a dignified, rather than a venerable appearance. 
His conversation consisted in protestations of sincere 
attachment, in expressions of his hopes of deliverance 
from the Mohammedan yoke, and inquiries about my 
translations of the Scriptures ; and he begged me to 
consider myself as at home in the monastery. Indeed, 
their attention and kindness are unbounded. Nerses 
and Serope anticipate my every wish. I told the pa- 
triarch that I was so happy in being here, that, did 
duty permit, I could almost be willing to become a 
monk with them. He smiled, and fearing, perhaps, 
that I was in earnest, said that they had quite enough. 
Their number is a hundred, I think. The church was 
immensely rich till about ten years ago, when, by 
quarrels between two contending patriarchs, one ot 
whom is still in the monastery in disgrace, most of 
their money was expended in referring their disputes 
to the Mohammedans as arbitrators. There is no diffi 
culty, however, in replenishing their coffers: their 
merchants in India are entirely at their command." 

Sept, 15. — " Spent the day in preparing, with Serope, 
for the mode of traveling in Turkey. All my heavy 
and expensive preparations at Tebriz prove to be in- 
cumbrances, which must be left behind : my trunks 



HENRY MARTY N. 419 

were exchanged for bags ; and my portable table and 
chair, several books, large supplies of sugar, &c. weie 
condemned to be left behind. My humble equipments 
were considered as too mean for an English' gentle- 
man ; so Serope gave me an English bridle and saddle. 
The roads in Turkey being much more infested with 
robbers than those of Persia, a sword was brought for 
me. My Armenian servant, Sergius, was also to be 
armed with a gun and sword, but it was determined 
that he was unfit for the journey ; so a brave and 
trusty man of the monastery, named Melcom, was ap- 
pointed in his stead, and he had arms of his own ; he 
speaks nothing but Turkish." 

Sept. 16. — " I conversed again with Serope on his 
projected reformation. As he was invited to Echmi- 
adzin for the purpose of educating the Armenian youth 
for the ministry, he has a right to dictate in all that 
concerns that matter. His objection to Echmiadzin is, 
that from midnight to sunrise all the members of the 
monastery must attend prayers ; this requires all to be 
in bed immediately after sunset. The monks are chiefly 
from the neighborhood of Erivan, and were originally 
singing-boys ; into such hands is this rich and power- 
ful foundation fallen. They have no vows upon them 
but those of celibacy." 

The hospitable and benevolent conduct of the inte- 
resting society at Echmiadzin* made a deep impres- 
sion upon the feeling mind of their guest ; received by 

* For the interest the Armenians excite in a missionary point 
of view, see Dr. Buchanan's Christian Researches. 



420 MEMOIR OF 

them as a brother, he left them with sentiments of fra- 
ternal regard, and no doubt his heart swelled with 
grateful recollections of peculiar strength, when the 
kindness he had experienced in the bosom of an Ar- 
menian monastery was brought into contrast with 
that Mohammedan inhospitality and cruelty to which 
in a short time he was subjected. 

"At six in the morning of September 17," Mr. Mar- 
tyn writes, " accompanied by Serope, one bishop, the 
secretary, and several servants of the monastery, I left 
Echmiadzin. My party now consisted of two men 
from the governor of Erivan, a Mihmander, and a 
guard ; my servant Sergius, for whom the monks in- 
terceded, as he had some business at Constantinople; 
one trusty servant from the monastery, Melcom, who 
carried my money ; and two baggage-horses with their 
owners. The monks soon returned, and we pursued 
our way over the plain of Ararat. At twelve o'clock 
reached Quila Gazki, about six parasangs from Ech- 
miadzin. The Mihmander rode on, and got a good 
place for me." 

Sept. 18. — " Rose with the dawn, in hopes of going 
this stage before breakfast, but the horses were not 
ready. I set off at eight, fearing no sun, though I 
found it at times very oppressive when there was no 
wind. At the end of three hours we left the plain of 
Ararat, the last of the plains of modern Persia in this 
quarter. Meeting here with the Araxes again, I un- 
dressed and plunged into the stream. While hastening 
forward, with the trusty Melcom, to rejoin my party, 
we were overtaken by a spearman, with a lance of 
formidable length : I did not think it likely that one 



HENRY MARTYN. 42l 

man would venture to attack two, both armed ; but the 
spot was a noted one for robbers, and very well calcu- 
lated, by its solitariness, for deeds of privacy ; how- 
ever, he was friendly enough. He had, however, near- 
ly done me a mischief. On the bank of the river we 
sprung a covey of partridges : instantly he laid his 
lance under him across the horse's back, and fired a 
horse-pistol at them. His horse starting at the report, 
came upon mine, with the point of the spear directly 
towards me, so that I thought a wound for myself or 
horse was inevitable; but the spear passed under my 
horse. We were to have gone to Hagi-Buhirem, but 
finding the head-man of it at a village a few furlongs 
nearer, we stopped there. We found him in a shed 
outside the walls, reading his Koran, with his sword, 
gun, and pistol by his side. He was a good-natured 
farmer-looking man, and spoke in Persian. He chant- 
ed the Arabic with great readiness, and asked me 
whether I knew what that book was. ' Nothing less 
than the great Koran i } " 

Sept. 19. — " Left the village at seven in the morn- 
ing, and as the stage was reputed to be very dangerous, 
owing to the vicinity of the famous Cara Beg. my Mih- 
mander took three armed men from the village in ad- 
dition to the one we brought from Erivan. W r e con- 
tinued going along, through the pass, two or three pa- 
rasangs. and crossed the Araxes three times. We then 
ascended the mountains on the north, by a road, if not 
so steep, yet as long and difficult as any of the cotuls 
of Bushire. On the top we found table-land, along 
which we moved many a tedious mile, expecting every 
minute that we should have a view of a fine cham- 



422 MEMOIR OF 

paign country below ; but dale followed dale, appa 
rently in endless succession, and though at such a 
height, there was very little air to relieve the heat, and 
nothing to be seen but barren rocks. One part, how- 
ever, must be excepted, where the prospect opened to 
the north, and we had a view of the Russian territory, 
so that we saw at once, Persia, Russia, and Turkey. 
At length we came to an Armenian village, situated in 
a hollow of these mountains, on a declivity. The vil- 
lage presented a singular appearance, being filled with 
conical piles of peat, for they have no fire-wood. 
Around, there was a great deal of cultivation, chiefly 
corn. Most of the low land from Tebriz to this place 
is planted with cotton, palma Christy and rice. This 
is the first village in Turkey; not a Persian cap was to 
be seen ; the respectable people wore a red Turkish 
cap. The great man of the village paid me a visit ; he 
was a young Mussulman, and took care of all my Mus- 
sulmen attendants ; but he left me and my Armenians 
where he found us, at the house of an Armenian, with- 
out offering his services. I was rather uncomfortably 
lodged, my room being a thoroughfare for horses, cows, 
buffaloes, and sheep. Almost all the village came to 
look at me. The name of this village is Fiwick ; it is 
distant six parasangs from the last ; but we were eight 
hours accomplishing it, and a cafila would have been 
twelve. We arrived at three o'clock ; both horses and 
men much fatigued." 

Sept. 20. — " From day-break to sunrise I walked, 
then breakfasted, and set out. Our course lay north, 
over a mountain ; and here danger was apprehended, 
it was, indeed, dismally solitary all around. The ap- 






HENRY MARTYN. 423 

pearance of an old castle on the top of a crag was the 
first occasion on which our guard got their pieces 
ready, and one rode forward to reconnoiter : bin all 
there was as silent as the grave. At last, after travel- 
ing five hours, we saw some men ; our guard again 
took their places in front. Our fears were soon removed 
6y seeing carts and oxen. Not so the opposite party ; 
for my baggage was so small as not to be easily per- 
ceived. They halted, therefore, at the bottom, towards 
which we were both descending, and those of them 
who had guns advanced in front and hailed us. We 
answered peaceably ; but they, still distrusting us, as 
we advanced nearer, cocked their pieces : soon, how- 
ever, we came to a parley. They were Armenians, 
bringing wood from Kars to their village in the moun- 
tain : they were hardy, fine young men, and some old 
men who were with them were particularly venerable. 
The dangerous spots being passed through, my party 
began to sport with their horses ; galloping across the 
path, brandishing their spears or sticks ; they darted 
them just at the moment of wheeling round their 
horses, as if that motion gave them an advantage. It 
struck me that this, probably, was the mode of fight- 
ing of the ancient Parthians, which made them so ter- 
rible in flight. Presently after these gambols, the ap- 
pearance of some poor countrymen with their carts 
put into their heads another kind of sport ; for know- 
ing, from the ill fame of the spot, that we should easily 
be taken for robbers, four of them galloped forward, 
and by the time we reached them, one of the carters 
was opening a bag to give them something. I was. of 
course, very much displeased, and made signs to him 



124 MEMOIR OF 

not to do it. I then told them all, as we quietly pur 
sued our course, that such kind of sport was not al- 
lowed in England ; they said it was the Persian cus- 
tom. We arrived at length at Ghanikew, having rid- 
den six hours and a half without intermission. The 
Mihmander was for changing his route continually, 
either from real or pretended fear. One of Cara Beg's 
men saw me at the village last night, and as he would 
probably get intelligence of my intended route, it was 
desirable to elude him. But, after all, we went the 
shortest way, through the midst of danger, if there 
was any, and a gracious Providence kept all mischief 
at a distance. Ghanikew is only two parasangs from 
Kars, but I stopped there, as I saw it was more agreea- 
ble to the people ; besides which, I wished to have a 
ride before breakfast. I was lodged in a stable-room, 
but very much at my ease, as none of the people of the 
village could come at me without passing through the 
house." 

Sept. 21. — "Rode into Kars. Its appearance is quite 
European, not only at a distance, but within. The 
houses all of stone ; streets with carts passing ; some 
of the houses open to the street ; the fort on an un- 
commonly high rock ; such a burying-ground I nevei 
saw ; there must be thousands of grave-stones. The 
Mihmander carried me directly to the governor, who, 
having just finished his breakfast, was, of course, asleep, 
and could not be disturbed ; but his head-man carried 
me to an Armenian's house, with orders to live at free 
quarters there. The room at the Armenian's was an 
excellent one, up stairs, facing the street, fort, and 
river, with a bow containing five windows, under 



HENRY MARTYN. 425 

which were cushions. As soon as the pacha was visi- 
ble, the chief Armenian of Kars, to whom I had a let- 
ter from bishop Nerses, his relation, waited upon him 
on my business. On looking over my letters of re- 
commendation from Sir Gore Ouseley, I found there 
was none for Abdalla, the pacha of Kars ; however, the 
letter to the governor of Erivan secured all I wanted. 
He sent to say I was welcome ; that if I liked to stay 
a few days, he should be happy ; but that if I was de- 
termined to go on to-morrow, the necessary horses, 
and ten men for a guard, were all ready. As no wish 
was expressed of seeing me, I was of course silent upon' 
that subject." 

Sept. 22. — " Promises were made that every thing 
should be ready at sunrise ; but it was half-past nine 
before we started, and no guard present but the Tartar. 
He presently began to show his nature, by flogging 
the baggage-horse with his long whip, as one who was 
not disposed to allow loitering ; but one of the poor 
beasts presently fell with his load, at full length, over 
a piece of timber lying in the road. While this was 
setting to rights, the people gathered about me, and 
seemed more engaged with my Russian boots than 
with any other part of my dress. We moved south- 
west, and after five hours and a half reached Joula. 
The Tartar rode forward, and got the coffee-room at 
the post-house ready. The coffee-room has one side 
raised and covered with cushions, and on the opposite 
side, cushions on the ground ; the rest of the room was 
left with bare stones and timbers. As the wind blew 
very cold yesterday, and I had caught cold, the Tar- 
tar ordered a great fire to be made. In this room 1 



426 MEMOIR OF 

should have been very much to my satisfaction, had 
not the Tartar taken part of the same bench ; and many 
other people made use of it as a public room. They 
were continually consulting my watch, to know how 
near the hour of eating approached. It was evident 
that the Tartar was the great man here : he took the 
best place for himself; a dinner of four or five dishes 
was laid before him. When I asked for eggs, they 
brought me rotten ones ; for butter, they brought me 
ghee. The idle people of the village came all night, 
and smoked till morning. It was very cold, there 
being a hoar frost." 

Sept. 23. — " Our way to-day lay through a forest of 
firs ; and the variety of prospect it afforded, of hill and 
dale, wood and lawn, was beautiful and romantic. No 
mark of human workmanship was any where visible 
for miles, except where some trees had fallen by the 
stroke of the woodman. We saw, at last, a few huts in 
the thickest clumps, which was all we saw of the 
Curds, for fear of whom I was attended by ten armed 
horsemen. We frightened a company of villagers 
again to-day. They were bringing wood and grass 
from the forest, and, on seeing us, drew up. One of 
our party advanced and fired : such a rash piece of 
sport I thought must have been followed by serious 
mischief, but all passed off very well. With the forest 
I was delighted ; the clear streams in the valleys, the 
lofty trees crowning the summit of the hills, the smooth 
paths winding away and losing themselves in the dark 
woods, and, above all, the solitude that reigned through- 
out, composed a scene which tended to harmonize and 
solemnize the mind. What displays of taste and mag- 






HENRY MARTY N. 427 

flificence are found occasionally on this ruined earth- 
Nothing was wanting to-day but the absence of the 
Turks ; to avoid the sight and sound of whom I rode 
on. After a ride of nine hours and a half we reached 
Mijingerd, in the territory of Erzeroom; and having 
resolved not to be annoyed in the same way as last 
night, I left the Tartar in the undisturbed possession 
of the post-house, and took up my quarters at an Ar- 
menian's, where, in the stable-room, I expected to be 
left alone ; but a Georgian young man, on his way from 
Echmiadzin, going on pilgrimage to Moosh, where 
John the Baptist is supposed to be buried, presumed on 
his assiduous attentions to me, and contrived to get a 
place for himself in the same room." 

Sept. 24. — " A long and sultry march over many a 
hill and vale. In the way, two hours from the last 
stage, is a hot spring: the water fills a pool, having 
four porches. The porches instantly reminded me of 
Bethesda's pool : they were semicircular arches, about 
six feet deep, intended, seemingly, for shelter from the 
sun. In them all the party undressed and bathed. 
The Tartar, to enjoy himself more perfectly, had his 
calean to smoke while up to his chin in water. We 
saw nothing else on the road to-day, but a large and 
opulent family of Armenians, men, women, and chil- 
dren, in carts and carriages, returning from a pilgrim- 
age to Moosh. After eleven hours and a half, including 
the hour spent at the w r arm spring, we were overtaken 
by the dusk ; so the Tartar brought us to Oghoomra, 
where 1 was placed in an Armenian's stable-room." 

Sept. 25. — " Went round to Hassan Kulaah where 
we changed horses. I was surprised to see so strong a 



4^8 - MEMOIR OF 

, fort and so large a town. From thence we were five 
and a half hours reaching the entrance of Erzeroom. 
All was busy and moving in the streets and shops ; 
crowds passing along. Those who caught a sight of us 
were at a loss to define me. My Persian attendants, 
and the lower part of my dress, made me appear Per- 
sian; but the rest of the dress was new, for those only 
who had traveled knew it to be European. They were 
not disposed, I thought, to be civil ; but the two per- 
sons who preceded us kept all in order. I felt myself 
in a Turkish town ; the red cap, aud stateliness, and 
rich dress, and variety of turbans, was realized as I 
had seen it in pictures. There are here four thousand 
Armenian families, and but one church: there are 
scarcely any Catholics, and they have no church." 

Sept. 29. — " Left Erzeroom, with a Tartar and his 
son, at two in the afternoon. We moved to a village, 
where I was attacked with fever and ague : the Tar- 
tar's son was also taken ill, and obliged to return." 

Sept. 30. — "Traveled first to Ash Kulaah, where 
we changed horses, and from thence to Purnugaban, 
where we halted for the night. I took nothing all day 
but tea, and was rather better ; but headache and loss 
of appetite depressed my spirits ; yet my soul rests in 
Him who is c as an anchor of the soul, sure and stead- 
fast,' which, though not seen, keeps me fast." 

Oct. 1. — " Marched over a mountainous tract : we 
were out from seven in the morning till eight at night. 
After sitting a little by the fire, I was near fainting 
from sickness. My depression of spirits led me to the 
throne of grace as a sinful, abject worm. When I 
thought of myself and my transgressions, I could find 



HENRY MARTYN. 429 

no text so cheering as, c My ways are not as youi 
ways.' From the men who accompanied Sir William 
Ouseley to Constantinople, I learned that the plague 
was raging at Constantinople, and thousands dying 
every day. One of the Persians had died of it. The} 
added, that the inhabitants of Tocat were flying fron- 
their town from the same cause. Thus I am passing 
inevitably into imminent danger. O Lord, thy will be 
done ! Living or dying, remember me." 

Oct. 2. — " Some hours before day I sent to tell the 
Tartar I was ready, but Hassan Aga was for once rivet- 
ed to his bed. However, at eight, having got strong 
horses, he set off at a great rate, and over the level 
ground he made us gallop as fast as the horses would 
go, to Chiftlick, where we arrived at sunset. I was 
lodged, at my request, in the stables of the post-house, 
not liking the scrutinizing impudence of the fellows 
who frequent the coffee-room. As soon as it began to 
grow a little cold, the ague came on, and then the fe- 
ver : after which I had a sleep, which let me know too 
plainly the disorder of my frame. In the night, Has- 
san sent to summon me away, but I was quite unable 
to move. Finding me still in bed at the dawn, he be- 
gan to storm furiously at my detaining him so long ; 
but I quietly let him spend his ire, ate my breakfast 
composedly, and set out at eight. He seemed deter- 
mined to make up for the delay, for we flew over hill 
and dale to Sheheran, where he changed horses. From 
thence we traveled all the rest of the day and all night; 
it rained most of the time. Soon after sunset the ague 
came on again, which, in my wet state, was very try- 
ing ; I hardly knew how to keep my life in me. About 



430 MEMOIR OF 

that time there was a village at hand ; but Hassan had 
no mercy. At one in the morning we found two men 
under a wain, with a good fire ; they could not keep 
the rain out, but their fire was acceptable. I dried my 
lower extremities, allayed the fever by drinking a good 
deal of water, and went on. We had a little rain, but 
the night was pitchy dark, so that I could not see the 
road under my horse's feet. However, God being mer- 
cifully pleased to alleviate my bodily suffering, I went 
on contentedly to the menzil, where we arrived at 
break of day. After sleeping three or four hours, I 
was visited by an Armenian merchant, for whom I had 
a letter. Hassan was in great fear of being arrested 
here ; the governor of the city had vowed to make an 
example of him for riding to death a horse belonging 
to a man of this place. He begged that I would shel- 
ter him, in case of danger ; his being claimed by an 
Englishman, he said, w r ould be a sufficient security. I 
found, however, that I had no occasion to interfere. 
He hurried me away from this place without delay, 
and galloped furiously towards a village, which, he 
said, was four hours distant ; which was all I could 
undertake in my present weak state ; but village after 
village did he pass, till night coming on, and no signs of 
another, I suspected that he was carrying me on to the 
menzil ; so I got off my horse, and sat upon the ground, 
and told him, ' I neither could nor would go any fur- 
ther.' He stormed, but I was immovable; till, a light 
appearing at a distance, I mounted my horse and made 
towards it, leaving him to follow or not, as he pleased. 
He brought in the party, but would not exert himself 
to get a place for me. They brought me to an open 



HENRY MARTY N. 431 

verandah, but Sergius told them I wanted a place in 
which to be alone. This seemed very offensive to 
them. 'And why must he be alone?' they asked; 
ascribing this desire of mine to pride, I suppose. 
Tempted, at last, by money, they brought me to a 
stable-room, and Hassan and a number of others plant- 
ed themselves there with me. My fever here increased 
to a violent degree, the heat in my eyes and forehead 
was so great, that the fire almost made me frantic. J 
entreated that it might be put out, or that I might be 
carried out of doors. Neither was attended to : m) 
servant, who, from my sitting in that strange way on 
the ground, believed me delirious, was deaf to all I 
said. At last I pushed my head in among the lug- 
gage, and lodged it on the damp ground, and slept.'' 
Oct. 5. — "Preserving mercy made me see the light 
of another morning. The sleep had refreshed me, but 
I was feeble and shaken; yet the merciless Hassan 
hurried me off. The menzil, however, not being dis- 
tant, I reached it without much difficulty. I expected 
to have found it another strong fort at the end of the 
pass; but it is a poor little village within the jaws of 
the mountains. I was pretty well lodged, and felt to- 
lerably well till a little after sunset, when the ague 
came on with a violence I had never before experi- 
enced; I felt as if in a palsy, my teeth chattering, 
and my whole frame violently shaken. Aga Hosyn 
and another Persian, on their way here from Constan- 
tinople, going to Abbas Mirza, whom I had just before 
been visiting, came hastily to render me assistance, if 
they could. These Persians appear quite brotherly, 
after the Turks. While they pitied me, Hassan sat in 



432 MEMOIR OK 

perfect indifference, ruminating on the further delay 
this was likely to occasion. The cold fit, after conti- 
nuing two or three hours, was followed up by a fever, 
which lasted the whole night, and prevented sleep." 
Oct. 6. — " No horses being to be had, I had an un- 
expected repose. I sat in the orchard, and thought, 
with sweet comfort and peace, of my God ; in soli- 
tude, my company, my friend, and comforter. O ! 
when shall time give place to eternity ! When shall 
appear that new heaven and new earth wherein dwell- 
eth righteousness ! There, there shall in no wise en 
\er in any thing that defileth : none of that wicked- 
ness which has made men worse than wild beasts — 
none of those corruptions which add still more to 
the miseries of mortality, shall be seen or heard of 
any more." 

Scarcely had Mr. Martyn breathed these aspirations 
after that state of blissful purity, for which he had at- 
tained such a measure of meetness, when he was 
called to exchange a condition of pain, weakness, and 
suffering, for that everlasting " rest which remaineth 
for the people of God." 

At Tocat, on the 16th of October, 1812, either fall 
ing a sacrifice to the plague, which then raged there, 
or sinking under that disorder which, when he penned 
his last words, had so greatly reduced him, he surren 
dered his soul into the hands of his Redeemer.* 



* The American missionaries who have visited Tocat, have 
obtained but little information as to the circumstances of his 
death, though any one could tell the place of his buria.?. His 
grave is in the Armenian cemetery around the church at the 






o 

hrj 




HENRY MARTYN. 433 

The peculiar circumstances, as well as the particu- 
lar period of his death, could not fail of greatly aggra 
vating the affliction of his friends, who, amidst anxious 
hopes and fears, were expecting his arrival either in 
India or England. He had not completed the thirty- 
second year of a life of eminent activity and useful- 
ness, and he died while hastening towards his native 
country, that, having there repaired his shattered 
health, he might again devote it to the glory of Christ, 
amongst the nations of the East. There was some- 
thing, also, deeply affecting in the consideration, that 
where he sunk into his grave, men were strangers to 
him and to his God. No friendly hand was stretched 
out — no sympathizing voice heard at that time, when 
the tender offices of Christian affection are so soothing 
and so delightful; no human bosom was there, on 
which Mr. Martyn could recline his head in the hour 

north-eastern part of the town, over which is a monument, 
erected by Claudius James Rich, Esq. English Resident at 
Bagdad, bearing a Latin inscription, of which the following 
is a. literal translation: 

To Rev. Henry Martyn, 

An English Clergyman and Missionary; 
A pious, learned, and faithful servant, 

whom, 

As he was returning to his native land. 

The Lord here called 

To his eternal joy. 

A. D. 1812. 

C J. R. consecrated this stone ? 
A. D. 1823. 
nyn. 28 



131 MEMOIR or 

of languishing. Paucioribus lacrymis com posit us es* 
was a sentiment to which the feelings of nature and 
friendship responded : yet the painful reflection could 
not be admitted — In novissimd luce desideravere ali- 
quid oculi tui.\ The Savior, doubtless, was with his 
servant in his last conflict, and he with Him the in- 
stant it terminated. 

So richly was the mind of Mr. Martyn endowed by 
the God of nature and of grace, that at no period could 
his death fail to be a subject of common lamentation 
to those who valued the interests of the church of 
Christ. 

" He was in our hearts," observed one of his friends 
in India,]: " we honored him ; we loved him ; we thank- 
ed God for him ; we prayed for his long continuance 
amongst us ; we rejoiced in the good he was doing : 
we are sadly bereaved ! Where such fervent piety, and 
extensive knowledge, and vigorous understanding, and 
classical taste, and unwearied application, were all 
united, what might not have been expected ? I cannot 
dwell upon the subject without feeling very sad. I stand 
upon the walls of Jerusalem, and see the lamentable 
breach that has been made in them ; but it is the Lord ; 
he gave, and he hath taken away." 

" Mr. Martyn," remarks another of his friends, § in 
describing more particularly his intellectual endow- 

* With few tears thou art laid to rest. 

t In thy last moments thine eyes desired something on 
which to rest. 
X The late Rev. Mr. Thomason. 
% The Rev. C. J. Hoare, Archdeacon of Winchester 



HENRY MARTYN. 435 

qients, " combined in himself certain valuable but dis- 
tinct qualities, seldom found together in the same indi- 
vidual. The easy triumphs of a rapid genius over first 
difficulties never left him satisfied with present attain 
ments. His mind, which naturally ranged over a wide 
field of human knowledge, lost nothing of depth in its 
expansiveness. He was one of those few persons whose 
reasoning faculty does not suffer from their imagina- 
tion, nor their imagination from their reasoning facul- 
ty ; both, in him, were fully exercised, and were of a 
very high order. His mathematical acquisitions clear- 
ly left him without a rival of his own age ; and yet, to 
have known only the employments of his more free 
and unfettered moments, would have led to the con- 
clusion that poetry and the classics were his predomi- 
nant passion." 

But the radiance of these talents, excellent as they 
were, was lost in the brightness of those Christian 
graces by which he " shone as a light in the world, 
holding forth the word of life." In his faith there was 
a singular, a child-like simplicity : great, consequently, 
was its energy, both in obeying Christ, and in suffer- 
ing for his name's sake ! By this he could behold blos- 
soms upon the rod, even when it was apparently dead ; 
and in those events which, like the captain of the Lord's 
host seen by Joshua, presented at first a hostile aspect, 
he could discern a favorable and a friendly counte- 
nance. Having listened to that tender and overwhelm- 
ing interrogation of his Savior, " Lovest thou me?" 
his love was fervently exercised towards God and man, 
at all times, and in all places ! For it was not like the 
laud-spring, which runs violently for a season, and 



436 MEMOIR OF 

then ceases ; but resembled the fountain which flows 
with a perennial stream from the recesses of the rock. 
His fear of God, and tenderness of conscience, and 
watchfulness over his own heart, could scarcely be 
surpassed in this state of sinful infirmity. But it w r as 
his humility that was most remarkable : this might be 
considered as the warp of which the entire texture oi 
his piety was composed ; and with this his other Chris- 
tian graces were so intimately blended as to beautify 
and adorn his whole demeanor. It was, in truth, the 
accordance and consent of various Christian attain- 
ments in Mr. Martyn, which were so striking. The 
symmetry of his stature in Christ was as surprising as 
its height That communion which he held with his 
God, and w T hich caused his face to shine, was ever 
chastened, like the patriarchs of old, by the most aw- 
ful reverence. The nearer the access with which he 
was favored, the more deeply did he feel that he was 
but " sinful dust and ashes." No discordance could he 
discover between peace and penitence ; no opposition 
between joy in God, and utter abasement before him ; 
and truly in this, as in every other respect, had he 
thoroughly imbibed the spirit of his own church ; 
which, in the midst of one of her sublimest hymns o! 
praise, leads her members to prostrate themselves be- 
fore their Redeemer in these words of humiliation, 
" Thou that takest away the sins of the world, have 
mercy upon us." 

To be zealous without love; or to have that which 
is miscalled charity, without decision of character, is 
neither difficult nor uncommon. Mr. Martyn's zeal 
was tempered with love, and his love invigorated by 






HENRY MAKTVN. 437 

zeal. He combined, also, ardor with prudence; gra- 
vity with cheerfulness; abstraction from the world 
with an enjoyment of its lawful gratifications. His ex- 
treme tenderness of conscience was devoid of scrupu- 
losity ; his activity in good works was joined to ha- 
bits of serious contemplation ; his religious affections, 
which were highly spiritualized, exceeded not the li- 
mits of the most cautious sobriety, and were so far 
from impairing his natural affections, that they raised 
and purified them. 

Many sincere servants of Christ labor to attain 
heaven, but possess not any joyful hope of reaching it; 
many vain hypocrites are confident of their salvation, 
without striving to enter in at the strait gate. With 
the apostle, Mr. Martyn could say, " We are always 
confident ; wherefore, we labor," &c. Together with 
an assurance of his final and everlasting felicity, he 
had a dread of declension, and a fear of "losing the 
things he had wrought." He knew that the way to 
heaven was narrow, from the entrance to the end of 
it ; but he was persuaded that Christ was with him, 
walking in the way, and that he would never leave 
him nor forsake him. 

As these extraordinary, and seemingly contradic- 
tory qualities, were not imparted to him but by the 
Spirit of God, so they were not strengthened and ma- 
tured but in the diligent use of the ordinary means of 
grace. Prayer and the Holy Scriptures were those 
wells of salvation out of which he drew daily the 
living water. Truly did he " pray always, with all 
praj^er and supplication in the Spirit, and watch 
thereunto with all perseverance." Being " transformed 



438 MEMOIR OF 

by the renewing of his mind," he was also ever " pro- 
ving what was that good and acceptable and perfect 
will of God." 

The Sabbath, that sacred portion of time set apart 
for holy purposes in paradise itself, was so employed 
by him as to prove frequently a paradise to his soul 
on earth ; and as certainly prepared him for an end- 
less state of spiritual enjoyment hereafter. 

By " daily weighing the Scriptures," with prayer, hf 
" waxed riper and riper in his ministry," in the execu 
tion of which divine office there was in him an asto- 
nishing determination of soul for the glory of his Sa- 
vior, who " allowed him to be put in trust with the 
Gospel." Of the exceeding privileges of his holy func- 
tion, and of its awful responsibility, he had the most 
vivid impression ; and such was his jealousy of omit- 
ting any duty connected with it, that he deemed the 
work of translating the Scriptures themselves no justi- 
fiable plea for inattention to any of its more immediate 
and direct engagements. Reviewing frequently his 
ordination vows, in that affecting service in which they 
were originally made, he became more and more anx- 
ious to promote the honor of his Redeemer, by preach- 
ing his Gospel. This, indeed, was the great end for 
which existence seemed desirable in his eyes ; to effect 
which he spent much time in preparing his discourses 
for the pulpit ; investigating the subject before him 
with profound meditation, and perpetual supplication 
to the Father of Lights. Utilis lectio— utilis eruditio 
—seel magis unctio necessaria, quippe qua docet dt 
omnibus* — were the sentiments of his heart. When, 

* St. Bernard. — Reading is useful, learning is useful, but 



HENRY MARTYN. 43 ( J 

therefore, he stood up and addressed his hearers on the 
entire depravity of man — on the justification of the 
soul by faith in Jesus Christ — on the regenerating and 
progressively sanctifying influences of the Spirit ; 
when " knowing the terrors of the Lord," he persuaded 
them to accept the offers of salvation ; or when he be- 
sought therm, by the mercies of God, to present their 
bodies to Him, as a living sacrifice ; he spake " with 
uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, with sound words 
that could not be condemned ;" and none who knew 
their souls to be guilty, helpless, accountable, immor- 
tal, could listen to his preaching unmoved. In the 
delivery of his discourses, his natural manner was not 
good ; there being a defect in his enunciation ; this, 
however, was more than compensated by the solemni- 
ty, affection, and earnestness of his address. It should 
be added, also, that as practical subjects were discussed 
by him with constant reference to the peculiar doc- 
trines of the Gospel, so likewise all doctrinal points 
were declared practically, with a view to self-applica- 
tion rather than to disquisition. No one, as it regarded 
all doctrine, could enter more completely into the spirit 
of those words, both for himself and others : — Malo 
sentire compunctionem qudm scire ejus definitionem.* 

With an intense anxiety to save souls, Mr. Martyn 
had an implicit reliance on that grace which alone can 
make men wise unto salvation. He was deeply con- 
unction is far more necessary, because it gives instruction in 
regard to all points. 

* I had rather feel compunction, than know how to do 
fine it. 



440 MEMOIR OF 

scious that it is " God that giveth the increase ; r3 and 
when he did not see, or thought he did not see, that 
increase, he meekly submitted to the divine will, and 
patiently continued in well doing. At such times, also, 
more particularly would he turn, with joyful thank- 
fulness, to the contemplation of the successful labors 
of his brethren in the ministry ; for he had no mean 
and unholy envy respecting them ; nor had he what is 
so often allied to it, an arrogant or domineering tem- 
per towards his flock. His ambition was to be a helper 
of their joy; he had no desire to have dominion over 
their faith. He had too much of that beautiful part of 
a minister's character, a spirit which would sympa- 
thize with the poor and afflicted amongst his people, 
to court the appellation of Rabbi, or dogmatize with 
the air of a master in Israel. He was one of those little 
ones, of whom Christ affirms, that whosoever receiveth 
them, receiveth him. To no one, indeed, would he 
give occasion to despise him; but all the dignity to 
which he aspired was to be their servant among whom 
he labored for Jesus' sake. " A more perfect charac- 
ter," says Rev. Dr. Corrie, who bore the burden and 
heat of the day with him in India, " I never met with, 
nor expect to see on earth. During the four years we 
were fellow-laborers in this country, I had no less than 
six opportunities of enjoying his company; and every 
opportunity only increased my love and veneration 
for him." 

With respect to his labors, his own " works praise 
him in the gates," far above all human commendation. 

By him, and by his means, part of the Liturgy of the 
Church of England, the Parables and the whole of the 



HENRY MARTYN. 441 

New Testament, were translated into Hindoostanee a 
language spoken from Delhi to Cape Comorin, and in- 
telligible to many millions of immortal souls. By him, 
and by his means, also, the Psalms of David and the 
New Testament were rendered into Persian, the ver- 
nacular language of two hundred thousand who bear 
the Christian name, and known over one fourth of the 
habitable globe. By him, also, the imposture of the 
prophet of Mecca was boldly exposed, and the truths 
of Christianity openly vindicated in the very heart and 
center of a Mohammedan empire. 

If success be demanded, it is replied, that this is not 
the inquiry with Him " of whom are all things," either 
in this world or in that which is to come. With Him 
the question is this : What has been aimed at ? what 
has been intended in singleness of heart 7 

God, however, has not left Mr. Martyn without wit- 
ness in the hearts of those who heard him in Europe 
and in Asia. Above forty of the Hindoos have profess- 
ed faith in Christ ; all of whom, with the exception of 
a single individual, were converted by the instrumen- 
tality of one man,* who was himself the fruit of Mr. 
Martyn's ministry at Cawnpore. At Shiraz a sensa- 
tion has been excited which it is trusted will not 
readily subside ; and some Mohammedans of conse- 
quence there have declared their conviction of the 
truth of Christianity — a conviction which Mr. Martyn 
was the means of imparting to their minds. But when 
it is considered that the Persian and Hindoostanee 
Scriptures are in wide and extensive circulation, who 

• Abdool Messeeh. 



442 MEMOIR OF 

can ascertain the consequences which may have al- 
ready followed, or foresee what may hereafter accrue 
from their dispersion ? In this respect it is not per* 
haps too much to apply to Mr. Martyn those words 
which once had an impious application: 

"Ex quo nunc ctiam per magnos didita gentes, 
"Dulcia permulcent animos solatia vitae."— Lucre-t.* 

Nor is this example which he has left behind him, 
10 be laid out of our account in estimating the effects 
of his holy and devoted life. He doubtless forsook all 
for Christ ; he loved not his life unto the death. He 
followed the steps of JZelgenbalg in the old world, and 
of Brainerd in the new ; and whilst he walks with 
them in white — for he is worthy — he speaks, by his 
example, to us, who are still on our warfare and pil- 
grimage upon earth. For surely as ]ong as the church, 
of which he was so great an ornament, shall live, as 
long as India shall prize that which is more precious 
to her than all her gems and gold — the name of the 
subject of this memoir, as a translator of the Scriptures 
and of the Liturgy, will not wholly be forgotten; and 
whilst some shall delight to gaze upon the splendid 
sepulchre of Xavier, and others choose rather to pon- 
der over the granite stone which covers all that was 
mortal of Swartz; there will not be wanting those 
who will think of the humble and unfrequented grave 
of Henry Martyn, and be led to imitate those works 
of mercy which have followed him into the world of 
light and love. 

" From whom even now the sweet solaces of life, diffused 
through mighty nations, soothe the passions of men. 

THE END. 



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Charlotte Elizabeth. 

Advice to a Young Christian. 

Fletcher's Lectures to Children. 

Scudder's Tales- about the Heathen. 

Trees, Fruits, and Flowers of the 

Bible, [9 cuts.] 
John D. Lockwood. 
Memoir of Caroline E . Smelt. 



Isabel. 

The Dairyman's Daughter, etc. 

Walker's Faith Explained. 

Walker's Repentance Explained. 

Peet's Scripture Lessons. 

Child's Book of Bible Stories. 

Children of the Bible. 

Amos Armfield. 

The Child's Hymn-Book. 

Scripture Animals, [16 cuts.] 

Letters to Little Children, [13 cuts.] 

Great Truths in Simple Words. 

Margaret and Henrietta. 

Bartimeus. 

Pictorial Tract Primer. 

Watts' Divine and Moral Songs. 

With numerous similar works. 



Martha T. Sharp. 
Jessie Little. 

Also, Dr. Edwards' Sabbath Manual and Temperance Manual, and 
more than 80 volumes in German, French, Spanish, Welsh, and Danish. 

Also, upwards of 1,000 Tracts and Children's Tracts, separate, bound, or 
in packets, adapted for convenient sale by merchants and traders — many of 
them with beautiful engravings — in English. German, French, Spanish, 
Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, and Welsh. 

23^° It is the design of the Society to issue all its publications in good 
type, for the poor as well as the rich ; and to sell them, as nearly as may 
be at cost, that the Society may neither sustain loss nor make a profit by 
all its sales. 



BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG. 

MANY OF THEM BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH ENGRAVINGS. 



Gallaudet's Scripture Biography, 7 

volumes, from Adam to David. 
Gallaudet's Youth's Book of Natural 

Theology. 
Peep of Day. 
Line upon Line. 
Precept upon Precept. 
Hannah More's Repository Tracts. 
Mary Lundie Duncan. 
Charlotte Elizabeth. 
Martha T. Sharp. 
Fletcher's Lectures. 
John D. Lockwood. 
Memoir of Caroline E. Smelt. 
Gallaudet's Child's Book on the 

Soul. 
Anzonetta R. Peters. 
The Night of Toil. 
Advice to a Young Christian. 
Madam Rumpff and Duchess de 

Broglie. 
Scudder's Tales about the Heathen. 
Amelia, the Pastor's Daughter. 



Trees, Fruits, and Flowers of the 
Bible, [9 cuts.] 

Jessie Little. 

Isabel. 

Walker's Faith Explained. 

Walkers Repentance Explained. 

Margaret and Henrietta. 

Bartimeus. 

Children invited to Christ 

The Dairyman's Daughter, etc. 

Peet's Scripture Lessons. 

Child's Book of Bible Stories. 

Children of the Bible. 

Amos Armfield, or the Leather- cov- 
ered Bible. 

The Child's Hymn-Book. Selected 
by Miss Caulkins. 

Scripture Animals, [16 cuts.] 

Letters to Little Children, [13 cuts.] 

Great Truths in Simple Words. 

Pictorial Tract Primer. 

Watt's Divine and Moral Songs. 

With numerous similar works. 



ALSO. 



Dr. Edwards' Sabbath Manual, Parts 
1, 2, 3, and 4. ' 

Dr. Edwards' Temperance Manual. 

In German — 56 vols., various sizes, 
including Barth's Church History, 
Life of M. Boos, Rules of Life. 
Lord's Day, Fabricius, Honey- 
Drop, Christ Knocking at the 
Door, and two volumes and pack- 
ets of Books for Children, recently 
published. 

In French — Sixteen volumes. 

In Spanish — D'Aubigne's History of 
the Reformation. Vol. I., Bogue's 



Authenticity of the New Testa- 
ment, Pilgrim's Progress, Illus- 
trated Tract Primer, Primitive Ca- 
tholicism, Andrew Dunn, Sabbath 
Manual, Part 1, Kirwan's Letters, 
Evangelical Hymns, Temperance 
Manual, and Manual for Children 

In Welsh — Pilgrim's Progress, Bax- 
ter's Saints' Rest and Call, Anx- 
ious Inquirer, History of Redemp- 
tion. 

In Danish — Doddridge's Rise and 
Progress, Baxters Saints' Rest 
and Call. 



Also, upwards of 1,000 Tracts and Children's Tracts, separate, bound, 
or in packets, adapted for convenient sale by merchants and traders, many 
of them with beautiful engravings — in English, German, French, Spanish, 
Portuguese, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, and Welsh. 



[Cr" It is the design of the Society to issue all its publications in good 
type, for the poor as well as the rich ; and to sell them, as nearly as may 
be, at cost, that the Society may neither sustain loss nor make a profit by 
all its sales. 



v«? 



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